Scars
by caitlinweasley
Summary: The War is over, and it has left its scars on everybody. The Weasley's are in pretty bad shape, a certain Weasley twin in particular. When Ellie goes to stay with them, will they condemn her for who her family is, or will they realise that a certain Miss Malfoy is all they need to help them move forward?
1. Chapter 1: Surprises

Chapter One

"Miss Malfoy?" sounded the raspy voice from the door.

Ellie closed her eyes and let her head roll back onto the headboard. Tom was nice enough, and he had been more than welcoming to her, but an over-bearing land-lord was the last thing she needed right now. Her first week in England had mainly consisted of hiding out in this room, mostly to avoid his questions. Or anybody else's, for that matter.

Three sharp knocks brought her back from her daydream, and Ellie sighed.

"Just a minute, Tom," she called, more sharply than she had intended.

She walked over to the door, being careful not to catch her bare feet on any loose nails in the floorboards. It was okay here, but still the sort of place that made you weary. She opened the door to find Tom with an apologetic look on his face.

"I am so sorry to disturb you Miss, but it's your cousin" he says with a tight smile. "Mr Draco says you're expecting him Miss. And I am sorry to rush you Miss, but he's causing quite a stir downstairs."

Ellie just shook her head, smiling slightly. It was all so typical. "Not to worry Tommy, I'm on my way."

He blushed at the name.

Ellie walked over to take one final look in the mirror. She had been told that her Uncle would have high expectations. Not that this mattered, Ellie had always taken pride in her appearance. At first glance, she looked like the typical Malfoy. Her silvery-blonde hair fell in loose ringlets and reached the small of her back, matched with pale skin and a petite frame. But her eyes were the one thing that she most liked about herself. They were the one thing about her that made her stand out from the rest of the Malfoy family. Instead of being the grey-blue colour that people often expected, they were the most startling shade of emerald green.

She checked over her outfit quickly, just to make sure that there was nothing that could be deemed as 'inappropriate' about it. She smoothed out her jeans, and pulled down her grey jumper so that it didn't show any more of her belly than her naval. Her Uncle could disapprove all he wanted, but the jumper was her mother's. It smelt like home.

She sat down on the end of her bed and pulled on her boots. She picked up her red rucksack, and checked that her wand was in its place, tucked down the side of her jeans by her hip bone, and walked out of the door, locking it behind her.

Ellie couldn't help but feel nervous as she made her way down the creaky wooden staircases of the Leaky Cauldron. It had been three years since she had last seen her cousin, when she had attended Hogwarts for a year while her school took part in the Triwizard Tournament.

Draco, back then, had been arrogant. Rude, arrogant and condescending. That was to be expected though from a boy raised in the Malfoy family. Not unlike herself.

She walked across the dining area of the pub and lightly tapped his shoulder, almost frightened of ruining his spotless suit blazer. He jumped violently and swiftly turned around. It turns out that the war certainly left its scars.

Ellie froze for a minute when his icy eyes met hers. She quickly looked away, but she could feel his eyes taking her in, judging her. When she looked back up, Draco had a smile plastered across his face. A real, genuine smile. Ellie almost gasped, it was such a surprise. Before she knew it, he had her lifted off the floor in a tight hug.

"It's so good to see you!" he exclaimed as he spun her around.


	2. Chapter 2: A Different Draco

Chapter Two

"Can I buy you a drink? Is butterbeer okay? We need to talk things over…I err, think the details may have been altered since speaking to your mother"

Ellie, still being in a haze over what just happened, simply nodded her head and went to find a table. She sat in the booth the far end of the room, in a corner. Best to avoid all the unfriendly stares, she thought.

So he had changed.

Incredibly so.

When Draco came to sit back down, he took the seat opposite Ellie and slid a pint of butterbeer in front of her. They sat in silence for a while, drinking. It gave Ellie time to carefully study Draco's face, taking it all in. His previous cold grey eyes were now warm and inviting, although the pain behind them was evident. He had several scars on his face; one ran down the whole left side. His hair was longer than it had been last time, though this made sense. She hardly supposed that haircuts had been the first thing on his mind; the war had only been over for three weeks after all.

"Ellie?"

His voice made her jump violently. She didn't realise that he had been watching her.

"Oh! Yes, um, yes, I'm sorry, sorry" she stammered. "It's just…well, you just look so different. From the last time I saw you, I mean."

He laughed. It wasn't a laugh she knew though. The old Draco had a malicious laugh, which you usually heard after he had bullied a first-year into tears. But this Draco; his laugh was completely different. It was light, and friendly, and…genuine. And he seemed to be too.

"I imagine I do look pretty ghastly" he smiled.

"No n no, I didn't mean…" Ellie started.

"Ellie, I'm joking" he grinned at her.

Ellie smiled back, allowing herself to relax a little. "Well, I can tell that you have certainly changed" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, since when did you start referring to me as 'Ellie'? Wasn't I always 'Eleanor' to you?" she smirked.

"Well, I know how much you hated it. Forgive me for trying to be nice!" he exclaimed. However, seeing Ellie's horrified expression, he added on, "I'm just kidding. Honestly! But I can always start calling you that again if you prefer ELEANOR" he laughed.

Ellie burst out laughing. A real belly laugh that made even the old couple the other side of the room turn and smile. Draco couldn't stop smiling himself, admiring the way his cousin wasn't the slightest bit phased by all the looks they were getting, or the way that people were clearly avoiding sitting on the table next to them. It was obviously because of him.

"I'm just trying to make up for lost time. So, my fist action is by redefining the Malfoy name. Being nice to people."

"That's good. You were awful before" she said, with no signs of joking.

"I know."

Ellie signed and started chewing her lip. For anyone who knew her well, they'd know this was a sign she was nervous. Or uncomfortable.

"Your accent had faded," he stated curiously.

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Haven't really gotten out of the house in the last four years. They all started to get annoyed that they couldn't understand what I was saying, so now it's just habit, I guess."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. "Makes sense."

"I suppose."

They sat in silence for a while, though this one was not nearly as awkward as the last. With a sigh, Draco decided he needed to get down to the point.

"Look, Ellie, you're not coming to stay with me and my family."

A look of horror crossed Ellie's face. "What?! What do you mean I'm not staying with you?! Where am I…" Ellie was cut off.

"My father's in prison Ellie. Azkaban. Not that he doesn't deserve it, I suppose, I just…" he broke off. "My mother is in no fit state to entertain Ellie. I think that it would be unhealthy for both of you if you come and stay in our manor."

"Your father is in prison?!"

"It doesn't matter"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?!" Ellie almost shouted at him. "For how long? Is he okay?...Are you?"

A quick smile crossed Draco's face. It was so typical Ellie.

"Honestly, Ellie, I just tell you that your homeless, and you're more worried about me?!"

"Of course I am! Honey, I mean, you're…you're family" she sighed.

"While I appreciate the concern, I'm fine. Or I will be" he continued with a forced smile. "Wouldn't you like to know where you will be sleeping?"

"Right, yeah…" Ellie shrugged. "So where am I going to go?"

"Ellie, do you…err….do you remember the Weasley's?"


	3. Chapter 3: New Home

Chapter 3

Of course she remembered the Weasley's.

That big family of red-heads. The ones that everyone seemed to look down on. The ones that Draco had specifically told her to _stay away_ from.

They were also the only ones who had seemed willing to show her any kindness whilst she was staying at the castle. Well, some of them anyway. Ginny had been the closest thing to a best friend she had ever known, but they had lost contact when she had gone back to France.

And there was the twins. They were treated like celebrities around the school, well, by everyone but the Slytherin's. Of course. They had been the only other ones to show her kindness. Their other brother, Ron, had hated her. She could tell from the look in his eyes. It was the 'I don't know you but I still hate you' look she got from so many people. All part and parcel of being a Malfoy.

So yes, she remembered them.

"What about them?" Ellie asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Well…you're going to stay with them."

"But..b..I hardly know them! Well, not anymore. I haven't spoken to them in 3 years!"

"Ellie, you don't have much of a choice. It's the Weasley's, or the streets" he softened his voice, seeing Ellie's worried expression. "Look, don't worry about it. They're lovely people. They were the first ones to answer my cry of help concerning you. They _volunteered_. You're going to be fine."

Ellie sighed. It really didn't look like she had much of a choice.

"Ellie, we better get going. Mother was expecting me back fifteen minutes ago. I'll get you settled at the Burrow, but then I will have to get going."

"The Burrow?"

"Their house. Your home now, I guess"

"Right, yeah. Home."

Draco wanted to scream. Ellie's expression told him everything. The usually fearless girl was scared of going to stay with such lovely people. And why? Because of him. He knew it was because of him. Because she knew how much the Weasley's despised him, and she thought they were going to make assumptions about her too. Well why shouldn't she expect that? She had lived with it all her life.

Suddenly Ellie stood up. It made Draco jump out of his skin.

"Sorry" she giggled, "I thought we had to 'get going'"

"Right, yes, we do. I'll just go and pay Tom, and I will meet you outside, yes?"

Out on the street, Ellie got a lot of stares. Not that it bothered her, she was used to it by now. The passing wizards going into the pub would recognise a Malfoy from a mile away, and the muggles were probably just wondering about the stick poking out of the side of her jeans.

All of a sudden she felt a large rough hand on the small of her back.

"Nice outfit babe. Would look better on my bedroom floor though" a deep, husky voice said into her ear.

Ellie turned around to look at the stranger. A large man, must be in his mid-twenties. What was he doing hitting on a 17-year-old girl? Obviously not very intelligent, she mused.

"Excusez-moi? Désole, je suis Français. Peut-être vous devriez aller et de harceler une autre jeune fille de dix ans?" She answered with an innocent look. So there was something useful for her French in England after all.

"Um, you're…so you're..right well I'll just..you know, I'll just..bye then" he stammered, backing away.

Ellie turned around and saw Draco standing there, looking flabbergasted. She grinned at him.

"I have to say, it must take a lot of nerve to stay calm when approached with a blundering muggle male talking to you like that."

"Well, what can I say" she replied. "I can take care of myself."

Draco nodded, still laughing. "Shall we go then?" he said, offering Ellie his arm. When she looked confused, he added on, "We're apparating. Have you done it before?"

"Yeah. Of course. I just…it's very horrible isn't it?"

"You get used to it" he grinned. "Hold tight."

The next thing Ellie knew, they were knee deep in murky waters in a meadow. In front of her there was a house. But it was no ordinary house. It was the strangest house that Ellie had ever seen! It was crooked, and mis-matched, and it clearly took a lot of magic to keep it from toppling over. But it was cosy. And inviting. It was a home.

"Come on" came Draco's voice from a few meters away. "We've kept them waiting long enough."

Ellie waded out to the edge of the pond and dried off her jeans. Best make a good first impression, she thought.

She felt the familiar nerves take over her. She shook them of quickly telling herself to stop being so silly. These people had offered their home to her. They _wanted_ her here. She had nothing to be scared of.

Draco, sensing her mood, picked up her hand and slid her arm through his. They quietly walked up to the house.

"Mrs Weasley?" Draco called, and he pulled Ellie through the front door. "Mr Weasley? We're here."

A short, plump and kindly-looking woman came running down the stairs. She had flaming red hair, as expected, and the warmest brown eyes that Ellie had ever seen. She smiled.

"Draco! There you are! I have been worried SICK! You could have let me know! An owl would have been nice! There are still Death Easters out there you know! Well of course you know…why you didn't tell me you were going to be late?!"

"I am incredibly sorry Mrs Weasley. Well, you know, I haven't seen my cousin in three years. We had a lot of catching up to do." he smiled sheepishly. "And I had to convince her that this was the right thing. She was a tad...apprehensive."

Mrs Weasley's hard gaze softened considerably when her eyes rested on the scared looking girl that stood behind Draco, clinging onto his arm. She was certainly frightened.

"You, my dear, must be Eleanor" Mrs Weasley smiled.

"Ellie, please" Ellie let go of Draco's arm and stepped forward, holding out her hand. Mrs Weasley took one look at her hand and pulled her in for a big bear hug. What was it with English people and hugging?

"Are you okay dear? Dinner will be in an hour or so, which is good because it looks like it has been a while since you have eaten. Would like to be shown to your bedroom?"

"Thank you Mrs Weasley" Ellie replied with a smile.

"Well I should be on my way now Ellie." Draco pulled her in for a hug and whispered in her ear, "Take care of yourself. I know that this family will try too, but they're broken at the moment. I'm only an owl away if you need me."

Ellie pulled away, wide eyed. She slowly nodded. She turned around to find Mrs Weasley waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her.

"Goodnight Mrs Weasley. Take care of my Ellie, yes?" Draco called out with a smile.

"Of course. Goodnight sweetie" Mrs Weasley called back.

They stood there until they heard the front door close. So this is it. She is actually here.

"Come on pumpkin," Mrs Weasley took Ellie's hand. "You will be sharing a room with Ginny, I'm afraid. All of the other room's are taken at the moment. Not that Ginny seemed to mind. She seemed very excited when I said you were coming! She said you were friends when you were in third year?"

She turned to look at Ellie, so Ellie nodded and smiled.

"She was simply lovely to me. She helped me with all my work. She was one of my only friends that year."

"Yes… that sounds like my Ginny."

They arrived at a wooden door on the second landing. The door was painted bright yellow, and it had pictures of bands such as The Weird Sisters plastered all over it. Ellie smiled. Ginny couldn't have changed that much.

"Now, we have expanded the room and put in an extra bed for you. You are on the right side, by the window. Don't let Ginny try to talk you out of it, I've told her that she's to be on the left side okay? In you go pumpkin. I'll call when dinner's ready, okay?" Mrs Weasley smiled.

And then she was gone. Ellie took a deep breath, and entered her new bedroom.

She suddenly had four pairs of eyes on her. Ellie stood in the doorway for a moment, completely frozen.

"ELLIE?! Oh my gosh, it is you!" Ellie suddenly had a face full of long red hair. "I have been waiting for you ALL DAY!"

"Ginny, come on, let the poor girl breath!" came an amused voice from the other side of the room.

"Oh shut up Harry. Look Ellie, I made your bed for you" Ginny grabbed Ellie's hand and dragged her to the right side of the room. Her side of the room.

"Thank you" Ellie managed with a nervous smile. She sat down on the end of her bed and Ginny immediately sat next to her.

"You remember Harry, of course, and Ron and Hermione" Ginny smiled, pointing to her friends.

"Yes, of course I do" Ellie replied, studying the three people in front of her. Gosh, they had changed in three years. Then again so had Ginny. And so had she.

"Hey Ellie" Harry stood up and walked over to give Ellie a hug. "Ginny has told me so much about you. She's been very excited," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's nice to have someone my own age here" Ginny poked her tongue out at him.

Harry sighed and rolling his eyes jokingly, bending over to kiss Ginny.

"Hey, hey, hey! Less of that please. Big brother still in the room," Ron groaned from Ginny's bed. Ellie caught his eye, and he smiled sheepishly. "Good to see you Ellie. It's been…while."

"I has," Ellie replied coolly. "I almost didn't recognise you, Hermione!"

Hermione laughed. "Yes, I suppose it has been a while. Too long actually. How was your stay in the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Let's just say, I couldn't have been more pleased when I saw Draco." Ellie smiled.

Ginny sat up. "Draco came to collect you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I just…no, no reason" Ginny shrugged. "He seems to have really changed. I hope to God that it is permanent. "

"Me too" Ellie sighed.

"You looking forward to meeting the rest of the family?" Hermione sounded from Ginny's bed.

Ellie gave a nervous laugh. "Erm, yes, I guess so."

"You have nothing to worry about" Harry smiled kindly.

"Yeah, we may be a bunch of nutters, but we don't bite" Ron winked at her.

"DINNER!" came Mrs Weasley's shout from the bottom of the stairs.

Ginny took Ellie's hand. "Come on. Deep breaths" she leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Be patient with them. Particularly George."

Ellie nodded and swallowed. How bad could it be?


	4. Chapter 4: The Weasley's

Chapter Four

Dinner with the Weasley's. Couldn't be that bad, right?

Ellie couldn't help but smile when she saw the spread on the table. Mrs Weasley had obviously made an effort for her, and by the looks on her children's faces, it was the first time in a long time. They looked relieved.

"Well this lovely young woman must be Ellie!" a booming voice came from the head of the table. "Arthur Weasley at your service," he said with a wink, offering her his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you" Ellie smiled.

"Oh good, you're getting yourself acquainted my dear" Mrs Weasley came bustling in. "You can take a seat between Bill and Percy. Yes, right there."

Ellie sat down in her allotted seat.

"Hi" came the voice from the right-hand side of her. "I'm Bill".

Ellie looked up, and couldn't help but smile. Bill was…well, gorgeous. He was tall, and thin and had red hair like the rest of the Weasley family, however, he wore it long and pulled back into a ponytail. The clothes he wore were the sort that you would find at a rock concert, and to pull it all off he wore an earring with a fang dangling from it. He had a big smile plastered on his face, and he looked so happy that one could hardly tell he had every met Fenrir Greyback.

"Ni…Nice to meet you" Ellie said breathlessly.

"She ees taken aback by your 'an-zom-ness" a familiar voice sounded from behind Bill.

Ellie blushed furiously and put her face in her hands, but Bill just chuckled.

"Ellie, I believe you know my wife Fleur" Bill smiled.

"Of course I do!" Ellie stood up and walked over to hug Fleur. "It has been too long!"

"Eet 'as indeed. You 'ave turned out to beee so boot-ee-ful! Must bee zee Veela from your grand-mo-zeer coming out!"

"Well, maybe" Ellie giggled, sitting back down.

"This is Percy" Bill said, poking the man on the left hand side of Ellie. "Oi, Perc, don't be rude."

"Ever so sorry, do excuse me. I am a tad distracted. You see, I have an awfully big bill at the Ministry to take care of tomorrow, and I have just been mulling it over in my mind. But yes, I'm Percy. Pleasure" he said, offering Ellie his hand.

Ellie was a tad taken aback by the speech, but from the smirks on many of the other Weasley's faces, it looked like this was normal. So she took his hand.

"And that over there is Charlie. You see the muscly one with a tan and freckles?" When Ellie nodded, Bill continued. "He works with dragons in Romania. Well, he usually does. He hasn't gone back since the end of the war. But he will."

"So that's what the blisters on his hands are from?"

"Partly. Partly from Quidditch. Probably would've gone professional if he had been given the chance."

Ellie's face lit up at the mention of her favourite game.

"You like Quidditch ey?" Bill grinned. "Well, we've got a sort of make-shift pitch in the meadow behind our garden. And Harry, Ron, Ginny and George would give you a good game" at that, he looked around. "Mum, where is George?"

"Oh! In his room I suppose. Ginny, be a dear and go and fetch him will you?" Molly said brightly.

"Mum, I doubt he will come down. He hasn't since..." Ginny started.

"Ginny, just go and get your brother please" Molly snapped, making everyone jump.

"I'm going, I'm going" Ginny muttered, making her way up the stairs.

"Lovely spread mum" Ron said weakly. "Must've taken you all day."

"Yes, well, I wanted to make our new addition feel welcome" Molly smiled.

Ellie smiled at those words.

"I'm not hungry, mother" a rough voice sounded from behind Ellie. "And the fact that you sent my baby sister to fetch me like I'm some sort of pet _really_ makes me feel better. Cheers."

Ellie's jaw dropped at the sight of the man behind her. It was George, but not the George she knew and remembered. His normally short red hair was now long and shaggy, and he had clearly not shaved for some time given the fact that he had the starting's of a beard covering half his face. In addition to this, his clothes were clearly days old where they were stained so much, and he had a cold, hard look in his eyes, not the old twinkle of laughter.

"You don't have to eat then, pumpkin. Just come and sit down please. I want the whole family to be here to make Ellie welcome."

For the first time, George's eye's dropped to meet hers. She smiled a little, but all she got was the same cold stare.

"Make her feel _welcome_?" George sneered, his eyes not leaving hers. "All she is is your little Fred replacement. You could at least make it a bit classier _._ She's from a family of _death eaters_ for fucks sake!"

"GEORGE FABIAN WEASLEY" came the roar from Mrs Weasley. "HOW DARE YOU!"

Everyone was silent, the Weasley children casting nervous glances at each other. Ellie felt unfamiliar tears prick in her eyes, but she blinked them back. No. She didn't cry. She wouldn't.

"I'm just saying what EVERYONE else here is thinking, mother dearest!" George yelled back.

"You know what, I'm just, err…yeah, I'm just gonna.." and with that, Ellie was out of her seat and running towards the door.

"Ellie!" Ginny called after her.

"Let her go, Gin" Bill sighed.

Outside, Ellie just ran. She ran straight across the gardens, and straight through a group of trees. She stopped when she came to a large meadow, with three hoops either end. Ah. The Quidditch pitch. Over the far side she spotted what looked like a bench swing.

Once she was sat down, she kept mulling over what George had said. The way he had looked at her when he had said them. He had meant it. Of course he had.

But how DARE he? How _dare_ he speak to her like that, say those things to her? What did he know?! He didn't know her, and he didn't know her past. Or her life now. What gave him the _fucking right_ to treat her like that?!

Ellie didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but after a while it started to get darker and chillier. She pulled the faux fur throw over her to keep herself warm, and let her eyes wander over the meadow she was in. It wasn't until she saw a tall, lanky figure walking towards her that Ellie sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, making herself presentable. She must've looked a state.

"Ellie?" Ron called as he got closer. "Are you okay?" he sat next to her on the swing.

Ellie looked up. Ron had a genuinely concerned look on his face. Not that it mattered to Ellie. Wasn't he the one that made his sisters life hell only three years earlier for even speaking to her?

"Careful Ron. Someone might start to believe that you like me."

"What makes you think I don't?"

"Don't make me laugh."

Ron sighed. "If it helps, I'm sorry for the way I acted back then. I was young and stupid and very naïve and I just assumed that Draco Malfoy was the poster boy for all Malfoy's. I was wrong."

"And very stupid."

"Very," Ron chuckled.

"So you don't think that I'm just an un-classy Fred replacement for your mother?" Ellie said sadly. "Apparently that's what everybody's thinking."

"Don't listen to George" Ron tilted his head back to look up at the sky. "He feels the need to take all the shit that has happened out on everyone around him, y'know? You wouldn't believe the amount of times he has reduced Ginny to tears in the last three weeks. And Ginny doesn't cry."

"So I was just an easy target? Oh yeah, lets reduce the new girl to tears before she's even unpacked."

"You didn't cry."

Ellie shrugged. They sat in silence for a while, contemplating what to say next.

"Mum saved you some dinner. She asked me to come and tell you…"

"I'm not hungry."

Ron sighed. "She also asked me to tell you…or rather warn you I suppose…except it's your choice…so tell you I guess..."

"Ron, spit it out."

"It's Fred's funeral next weekend. And…well…we'd all like you to be there. But it's completely up to you. You don't have too."

"George won't want me there."

"You'd be surprised."

"Would Fred have wanted me there?"

"I think so."

"Okay."

Ron let out a chuckle. "You haven't changed at all."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"It's not. It's amazing. How much you've been though, and…well, the war affected you as much as it affected all of us. If not more, I reckon."

"Except for Harry."

"Right. Of course."

"And anyway, I disagree. Your family…well, you're all heroes. I'm not."

"I've personally never had much time for heroes."

Ellie smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?" Ron looked surprised.

"For coming to talk to me."

"Well, will you come back inside? It's bloody freezing."

Ellie smirked. "You'd think you'd be used to the cold after all the camping you did."

"Yes, and now that I'm back in civilisation I see no need in wasting body heat when there's a cosy house right over there."

"I happen to enjoy the night air."

"Sorry" Ron smiled. "But seriously, are you coming inside?" he hopped off the bench swing and motioned for Ellie to follow suit.

Ellie nodded and took the arm he was offering her. "Sure. So…you and Hermione?"

Ron's ears went bright red. "Shut it."

"About time, I say. I could tell all the way back in your fourth year. Especially after the spectacle you made at the Yule Ball" Ellie looked over and him and raised her eyebrow. "Anyway, it's good to know that the war changed at least a few things for the better."

"Yeah. A few."


	5. Chapter 5: A Drunken Mess

Chapter Five

The next few days passed very fast for Ellie. She got caught up with Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the planning of Fred's funeral – apparently it was too painful for anyone else. Even then, there were days that Ginny and Ron refused to participate. Other times she spent playing games of Quidditch, or helping Molly around the house with the others. Except for George. She avoided him at all costs. Not that she had to put much effort into it. He barely left his bedroom, and when he did, it was to go to this 'Lee's' house. Thank God.

Well, until one night. Ellie was awoken by a lot of cluttering and banging from the downstairs. She checked the wall clock. Two AM? Who on earth would be making so much noise at this hour?

Ellie slid out of bed and pulled on her robe. She then quietly tiptoed over to the door, making sure to go round the corner of Ginny's bed that she so often bumped into, and stepped out into the landing. She made her way down the stairs, avoiding the known creaky stairs. Not that her effort made much difference. It's a good thing that the Weasley's were such heavy sleepers, she thought, or the whole house would be awake right now.

Once downstairs, she made her way into the kitchen, and immediately regretted ever leaving her bedroom. Standing, or rather stumbling, in front on her was the one person she had tried her best to avoid since she arrived.

"George?"

He looked up from what appeared to be a Firewhiskey bottle. Fantastic.

"Weeelllll, if it isn't Miss _Malfoy_ " George slurred, attempting to walk over to her, but instead falling into her arms.

"You're drunk" Ellie stated, trying her best to keep George balanced.

"You…you are indeeeed correct. Yes. Got a smart one here!"

"Who are you talking to?" Ellie asked, raising one eyebrow. "Come on, will you please sit down?" she led him over to a chair at the table.

"Whooo WAS I taking too? Hmmm…yes, who? Because it couldn't be Fred could it? Nopeeee, it couldn't because…well…Fred's dead isn't he?" George threw his head back in laughter. "FRED IS DEAD. Yes. And you know why?"

Ellie stood there in shock, her mouth agape.

"Do you know why my brother is dead Ellie?"

"Why?" Ellie answered weakly.

"Because of you. Because of your STUPID FUCKING FAMILY" George stood up, and started to walk angrily towards Ellie, waving the glass bottle around like a toy. "YOUR FAMILY are the reason. The _Malfoy's_ " he spat the word, "are the reason. Bunch of Death Eaters. You might have my family fooled, but I know that my brother would be alive and well if it wasn't for all the help _your mother_ provided. And I'm guessing the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," he snarled.

At this point, George had Ellie backed up into a corner of the kitchen. He had his arms either side of her, so she couldn't escape. She was trapped.

"George, please, just…just go to bed. Please."

George put his face right up next to Ellie's, so that their noses were touching. "What gives you the fucking right to tell me what to do? You're _scum_."

At that, Ellie reached up, and slapped George sharply across the face. When George looked back, he had a look in his eyes that Ellie had never seen before, on anyone. Before she knew it, the hand with the glass bottle in it was swinging towards her head.

The next thing Ellie knew, she was lying down with different faces hovering above her, talking.

"Look, mum, mum, she's waking up!"

"Yes dear, give her space to breath. I doubt she's feeling very well."

The faces began to take shape. She was lying down in the living room of The Burrow, on the long sofa. Squished together on the chair beside her were Ginny and Molly, and leaning on the back of the sofa were Ron, Hermione and Harry. And then sat at the foot of the sofa was George. He looked as though he has been crying.

Ellie suddenly scrambled to get up. Yes, of course. George had hit her.

"Pumpkin, I need you to lie back down. We don't know how bad the injury is yet. Don't want to go making it worst do we now?" Molly smiled. "Ginny, keep an eye on her a minute will you? I need to go and check how your father and Bill are getting on with those garden gnomes." And with that, Molly bustled out of the room.

"YOU. You…y' hit me!" Ellie pulled her knees to her chest, getting as far away from George as she could.

"Ellie, you have no idea how s…"

"NO! I DON'T CARE! GET OUT!" Ginny sat on the edge of the sofa beside Ellie, putting her arm around her. "Ginny, I can't…he needs to go."

"George, mate, I think you're just making it worst." Ron grimaced.

George just sat there looking wide-eyed up at Ellie. It looked like he was frozen to the spot.

"Fine. If you won't leave, I'll just…." Ellie looked up at Ginny to let her out. "Gin I'm only going to get a glass of water."

"Ellie, sit back down, I can go and get it fo…."

"GINNY I AM PERFECTLY CAPEABLE" Ellie snapped, but immediately regretted it when she saw everyone gaping at her. "Sorry…I just…I'm going to bed."

"Els it's midday" came the weary voice from Ron.

"Yes, well, thanks to SOMEBODY" she sent a vicious glace George's way, "I spent half the night unconscious. So I'm tired. Is there a problem?"

"No. I'll bring you a glass of water if you like?"

"Thank you, Gin."

Upstairs, Ellie collapsed into her bed, barely even raising her head when Ginny came in with her water.

"Ellie will you please drink something. Please?"

Ellie reluctantly gave in, and adjusted her position so that her shoulders were supporting her head.

"Ginny, I really do have a ghastly headache."

"I know babe. The water will help. Mum's already checked you over for every head injury known to man or wizard. George insisted. He really does feel awful you know."

"So he should."

"I suppose. What were you two even talking -or fighting- about? It must have been horrifically bad."

"It was…I think. I don't know. I heard him…well I didn't know it was him. I heard someone making a racket downstairs. I didn't…I didn't want them to wake any of you. So I went down…and George was standing there, stinking drunk" Ellie furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember the details. "He started to…to talk as if Fred was there. In the room. And…well, when I asked who he was talking to he…" Ellie swallowed, "he started laugh about the fact that Fred was dead, and…and…then, yes then he asked me why Fred was dead..and then.."

"Ellie, go on."

"He blamed it on me. Fred's death. He said it was…my fault, my families fault. And then…" Ellie felt tears well up in her eyes. "He said I was no different."

For the first time since starting to speak, Ellie looked up at Ginny. She had a hard, blazing look on her face, and real anger in her eyes.

"How fucking dare he" she said so quietly that Ellie could barely hear her.

"Ginny, it's okay, he was drunk…I understand."

"Him being drunk…that's no excuse. I just…he's not the only one who's lost his brother! We all have too! He's just too FUCKING SELFISH" Ginny was yelling now, "to even think about how the rest of us are handling it. Well. Enough is _ENOUGH_."

"Ginny, please don't do anything rash." Ellie pleaded.

"Just…go to sleep yeah? I'll come and wake you when dinner's ready if you're not already up. And don't worry. I won't" Ginny walked over and shut the curtains for Ellie and then quietly stepped out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6: Let's Be Friends

A/N: Thank you so much for the positive feedback you beauties! Enjoy xxxx

Chapter Six

Ellie groaned and she was awoken by a soft voice next to her, gently coaxing her out of sleep.

"Ellie? Ellie, babe, please wake up."

Ellie slowly opened her eyes to the face of a very concerned Ginny. She rolled her eyes.

"Ginny, I'm really not in the mood."

"Under normal circumstances, I'd understand Els," Ginny sighed. "But you've been in bed for two days now, and…well; mum's planned a sort of garden party thing. She's invited, like, everyone."

"So? No one knows me. I doubt I'll be missed."

"Ellie please? You being here has started to make her act like her old self. Or at least put the effort in. Come on…you'll enjoy yourself."

"Has my bruise gone?"

"Of course. Mum's potions stuff works wonders. Always has."

Ellie sighed. "Will you help me get presentable then? I want to make a good first impression on all of your friends."

Ginny grinned. "So you'll come?!"

"I guess. Can't have everyone in the house hating on me now can I?"

Ginny jumped up in excitement and walked over to Ellie's wardrobe.

"Has she agreed?" came Hermione's voice from the door as she let herself in.

"She has. Help me get her ready will you?"

"Get me ready? What do you mean?" Ellie intercepted. She had only meant to pull on a pair of jeans.

"Well we have to all make the effort, why shouldn't you have to?" Hermione winked.

And they had. Ginny was wearing a pale yellow strapless dress, which was layered on the bottom half, and fanned out on the top half, with a strip round the middle which tied up in a bow at the front. The dress finished mid-thigh and she was wearing pale blue heels with large matching flowers on the sides, along with a lightning-scar necklace, bangles on her wrists and dangling feather earrings. Her long, fiery hair was tied up in a large, loose bun on the top of her head, with loose wispy bits delicately resting on her neck.

On the other hand, Hermione was wearing a modest knee-length pale pink dress, which pulled in at the waist and has one ruffle starting by her right shoulder, and ended at the bottom left of her skirt. She was wearing fuchsia pink heels and silver flower studs in her ears. To finish it off, she was carrying a fuchsia pink clutch bag, and her usually wild hair was tamed, and in curls around her shoulders.

"Why are we making so much effort though? If it's just friends?" Ellie asked.

"The Minister is coming" Ginny rolled her eyes. "Says he's got some huge announcement."

"Oh…right."

"So come on then Els!" Ginny walked over and pulled her up off the bed. "We need to pick your outfit! We only have an hour."

An hour later, Ellie was stood in front of the full length mirror in Ginny's bedroom, eyeing up her outfit.

"Are you guys sure?"

"Ellie! You look stunning!" Hermione exclaimed.

Ellie looked back at her reflection. She was wearing a navy blue strapless skater dress, with nude heels and a matching clutch bag. She had a diamanté wrist cuff on, along with a simple silver ring on her right thumb, diamante dangling earrings and a silver feather necklace. Her back-length blonde hair had been plaited into a fish-tail plait by Hermione, who had then curled the loose bits and placed a white flower garland head band on top. Her make-up was simple, and only consisted of mascara and nude-coloured lipstick.

"GIRLS. CAN YOU GET DOWN HERE NOW PLEASE! THE MINISTER WILL BE HERE ANY MINUTE!" came Molly's shout from the bottom of the stairs.

"Come on, we'd better go down. She'll have a fit if the minister turns up before us" Ginny sighed, opening the door.

They descended downstairs with difficulty in their heels, and then stepped out into the back garden. It was breath-taking, the effort that Molly had obviously put in. The usually cluttered and overgrown garden had been tidied and pruned, and there wasn't a gnome in sight. There was a long table running right down the middle of the garden, with every kind of food on it you could imagine. But most of all, there were people. Lots. All of them in suits or dresses, even all the Weasley men.

"Oh there you three are! Don't you look absolutely _gorgeous?!_ " Molly beamed. "Arthur, don't they look beautiful?"

"Of course. Don't they always though?"

"Smile girlies!" Bill grinned, appearing from behind Arthur. He held up a camera and took a shot of the girls.

"Bill. BILL! Enough!" Ginny laughed.

"Now, now Ginny, don't be getting narky there" came Harry's voice, as he slid an arm around Ginny's waist.

"Yeah, need to be on our best behaviour for the minister" Ron joked as he wrapped both of his arms around Hermione, bringing her closer to him.

"That's great guys." Ellie whined, rolling her eyes. "Want to make me feel like the third wheel much more?"

"Aw don't be like that Els" Ron grinned, taking Ellie's hand. "I suppose I could escort two beautiful ladies tonight" he winked.

"Come on, let's go sit down" Ginny smiled, pulling Harry towards the table. The others followed.

The party went very slowly for Ellie. The minister turned up, they ate, and then he made his announcement. Something about Auror training for Ron and Harry. Although Ellie was pleased for them, she found it very hard to get excited about.

Then everyone started dancing. Ginny tried on numerous occasions to get Ellie up, but she just wasn't in the mood. She kept looking around for George. She needed to talk to him.

That was, until, she saw a familiar-looking figure heading towards the line of trees, and the meadow that lay beyond it. Ellie quickly stood up, and straightened herself out. She then followed him through the line of trees. When she got to the other side, he was standing with his back to her.

"George?"

He spun round so fast that Ellie thought that the force would knock her over. "Ellie!"

"Yeah, um…hi. I wanted to talk?"

"Ellie, you have to know how sorry I am. You have no idea…I can't believe I did that. I just…I don't even know what came over me…I'm so…"

"George, please stop apologising. I get it, you're sorry."

"If you're not here for an apology, then what are you here for?"

"I…um, was wondering…erm" she let out a little awkward laugh, and rubbed her forehead. "Will you walk with me?"

"Of course…yeah, yeah I will" George stammered, looking surprised.

They walked in silence for a while. Ellie couldn't help but notice how much different he looked since last night. While he still had the same physical appearances, he had a kinder and gentler look about him. It wasn't until they were in the middle of the Quidditch pitch that Ellie started to talk.

"I want to talk about Fred."

George took a sharp intake of breath. No one had even dared mention Fred when he was around since the Battle. "What about him?"

"Ron said that I should come to his funeral. He said Fred would have wanted me there."

"Yeah…yeah, I think he would have too."

"That's good then."

They had reached the bench swing. Ellie hopped up onto it, and tapped the space next to her. George accepted, and sat down, at the same time as pushing his feet off the ground, so the bench began to swing back and forth.

"I love the night time" Ellie smiled, tilting her head back. "My dad used to tell me that each star was someone in heaven, watching down on their loved ones down on earth. When he died, I used to always say that the brightest one in the sky would be him. So, every night, before I went to sleep, I used to open my bedroom window, find him, and blow him a kiss goodnight."

"How did he die?"

"My darling mother." Ellie bit her lip. "My uncle found out how much my mother had told him about their involvement with Voldemort. He convinced her that it was dangerous, that my father was going to turn them in" Ellie turned to face George. He was looked at her wide-eyed. "One night, at dinner, mother laced his pasta with some sort of poison. Before I knew it, he was on the floor, foaming at the mouth. There was nothing I could do. He was dead within about five minutes."

Ellie heard George let out a big breath.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"How old were you?"

"Seven."

"How long did it take?"

"How long did what take?"

"How long did it take you to be able to talk about him as freely as you do? I mean…" George tried in vain to blink back the tears he felt pricking in his eyes. "I can't even think about Fred properly without breaking down."

"George?" Ellie said with a tone of surprise. "Are you crying?"

When George turned his head away from her, Ellie sighed. She slowly slid her arm into his, and leant her head onto his shoulder.

"Everyone told me that it would get better in time. That in the end, I would only remember the good things about my dad, and him being gone wouldn't hurt anymore" Ellie shrugged. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but its all bullshit. I had to watch my dad die right before my eyes. Of course that didn't get better. But…well, now, it's easier to bring forward the good memories, and keep that one locked in a box in the back of my mind."

George pulled away from Ellie's embrace, and Ellie turned to face him.

"Don't cry, you'll ruin your make-up" George smiled.

"Ah, its waterproof." Ellie said, wiping away the tears that clung to her face. "Anyway, your tears are getting caught in that beard you've got going on there, and I don't see you worrying."

"Don't dis the beard!"

"George, the beard's awful."

"I know." He looked over at Ellie and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. Ellie stared at him, confusion in her eyes.

"You're just trying to earn brownie points after last night." She cocked an eyebrow at him.

He laughed. "Partly, maybe. But it's true. And…about last night…I was a royal prick. Well, I've been a prick to you since you got here."

"Why?"

"I don't know…well, before you turned up, everything was broken. Mum wasn't right, dad was depressed and everyone else barely left their bedroom. Then you come and stay and everyone is just…fine again" George's voice broke. "And it felt like everyone was forgetting Fred. That you were more important than my brother being _dead_." George put his face in his hands, "I'm so sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry." Ellie sighed, stood up and offered him her hand. "Come on, we'd better get back before we're left to tidy up, or before your mother notices we've ditched her party. Either way, we'd be screwed."

George grinned and took her hand. They began to walk back towards the music and laughter of the still on-going party. "Hey Ellie?"

"Yes George?"

"I'd like it if we could be friends. If you want."

Ellie giggled. "Yes. Yes, I'd like that too. And, um, George?"

"What?"

"Don't dwell too much over the past. From what I remember, Fred would've wanted you to be happy."

George nodded. When they reached the party, they spotted Ginny and Harry, and walked over to them hand in hand.

"You two have made amends then, I gather?" Harry grinned.

Ellie nodded and smiled. "Yes, we have. Harry, could I speak to you for a minute? It's about…erm…Saturday?"

Harry nodded and the other two grimaced. Were they that bad that they couldn't talk about Fred's funeral in front of them?

"Excuse us" Ellie smiled, and gave George's hand a squeeze before walking off with Harry.

"What do you think they're hiding from us?" George sighed. "I don't like being in the dark."

"Me neither. Buuut…" Ginny turned to face George and smiled cheekily, "I'd rather talk about what just happened here!"

"Meaning?"

"Were you or were you not just holding hands with Eleanor Malfoy?"

"Don't call her that. She doesn't like it."

Ginny laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"That my big brother is in _luuurve_ with her!"

"I am not _in love_ with her!" George pouted. "I barely know her!"

Ginny laughed, but then stopped when she saw how serious George looked. "George? Are you going to talk to me? Come on, it's me! _Ginny_. You tell me _everything_!"

"She's just…" George sighed. "She's the first person that I feel like I can talk to, you know? Not to mention that I even more awful now that she's being so nice to me after what I did."

"She's a good person, George."

"I know" George looked over to Ellie. She looked like she was in a very lively discussion with Harry. Damn, she _did_ look beautiful.

George stopped himself there. Did he seriously just think that? About _Ellie_?! What on earth was happening to him?

Did he seriously have a crush on a _Malfoy_?


	7. Chapter 7: Lemonade

Chapter Seven

The day after the party was very solemn in the Weasley household. They had good reason to be; after all, it was the funeral the next day.

Ellie decided to spend the day getting the garden ready with Bill, Charlie and Hermione, while Ginny helped Molly prepare the food, and Ron and Harry went and sorted out the headstone. George hadn't left his bedroom.

They started by chucking back over the hedge all of the gnomes who had decided to test their luck and search for left-overs from the party. Well, Bill and Charlie chucked the gnomes over the hedge. Ellie and Hermione gave up after a while when all of the gnomes figured out that the girls were more scared of them than them than they were of the girls. Instead, Ellie got down to de-weeding the garden, while Hermione planted new flowers in the flower bed.

"Right, girlies, that's us done. If you don't mind, we are off to get our tuxes for tomorrow" Charlie smiled, ruffling Ellie's hair as he walked past, earning himself a slap on the back of his legs. "Oi!"

"Serves you right." Ellie raised her eyebrows at him over the top of her sunglasses.

"Els, I had better be off as well. I promised Ron that Ginny and I would go back to Fred and George's old flat with him and Harry after they had sorted out the headstone" Hermione walked over and crouched down next to Ellie. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Course. Got Molly and Arthur in the house anyway. Why are you going there anyway?"

"To sort out Fred's things before George goes back there. Don't want him having a breakdown do we?" Hermione sighed. "And anyway, Molly and Arthur have gone to Andromeda's to talk about Teddy coming tomorrow. It's just you and George in the house. Maybe you could convince him to help with the garden?" Hermione winked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. It's just…well, you seem _friendly_ now. You were holding hands last night…"

"He was _upset_. It didn't _mean_ anything."

"Okay. Whatever you say, darling." Hermione smiled coyly and stood up. "I'll see you later."

"Have fun!" Ellie called sarcastically over her shoulder.

Ellie slumped back down in front of the flower bed she had been de-weeding, crossed legs in front of her and continued digging up the weeds. When she heard the popping sound of Hermione and Ginny apparating, she dropped the spade and started pulling the weeds up by hand. Much easier.

"You know, there's a spell for that" an amused voice sounded from behind her.

"Yes, well _some of us_ don't like to use magic to cheat in everything we do." Ellie turned her neck so that she could look at George. "I didn't hear you come outside."

"I was never inside. I don't really like my bedroom right now." He sighed and sat himself down next to Ellie.

Ellie smiled at him and turned back to the weeds. "You can help if you like."

"Help weeding?" George chuckled. "Ellie, it's like you don't know me at all."

"Well, tough."

George sighed and slumped down next to Ellie. "Someone's a bit bossy," he grumbled under his breath.

Ellie laughed and stood up. "Drink?"

"Why, are you fetching?" George winked.

"Only if you're having lemonade."

"It's like you read my mind."

"Well then call me Fairy Godmother" Ellie grinned as she got up.

"What?"

Ellie laughed. "Oh God, sometimes I forget just how much time you spent in the wizard world growing up. Don't worry, it's a muggle thing."

George couldn't help but smile as he watched her walk away. Only Ellie could make a muggle saying sound magical.

Ellie returned a few minutes later with two glasses a jug of iced lemonade.

George smiled, reaching for a glass. "I'm overheating here."

"Oh man up Georgie. The heat is the best thing about summer!" Ellie laid herself down on the grass and put her sunglasses back on.

"Oi, we're supposed to be weeding here!"

" _I've_ already done half the garden on my own. Your turn." Ellie grinned.

George dropped the spade and laid down beside Ellie. "Fred would have hated it if everything was prim and proper tomorrow anyway."

Ellie shrugged. "You can deal with your mother then."

George laughed and looked over at Ellie. She looked to sweet and innocent in that moment, in her patchy denim dungarees and her black crop t-shirt, with her hair on top of her head in a ponytail and her sunglasses resting on the bridge of her nose.

"What?" she turned her head and cocked her eyebrow at him. "Why are you staring?"

"I'm just thinking about Fred." George swallowed. "I think that you two would have got on really well."

"We did get on really well. Three years ago."

"I know. But it's just another thing that he missed out on isn't it? Getting to know you - again."

Ellie sat up and turned so that she was facing George, and crossed her legs in front of her. "I'm not _that_ great," she grinned, "and besides, you can't keep thinking like that. You need a positive mind for tomorrow."

George groaned and brought his hands up to his face. "Don't remind me. Ellie I just…I don't know…I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it."

Ellie picked up George's hands off his face and pulled him up so that he was facing her. "Hey," she said softly, taking his cheek in her hand, "You're going to be fine."

"Will you sit with me?"

"Of course."

"Okay. Good."

"Come on lazy bum" Ellie stood up and offered George a hand. "We'd better get this garden finished before your mother gets home."

They spent the rest of the afternoon weeding, pruning, re-planting and decorating the garden. When it turned six, people started to return to the house in hopes of dinner.

"Wow, you guys have done an amazing job!" Hermione exclaimed as she stepped out into the garden.

"Yeah, its looks great" Ron said, eying them both up slightly with a smirk.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "I'm going to see if Molly needs any help with dinner. Coming 'Mione?" what Hermione nodded, she turned to George. "Are you okay sorting out that lot Georgie?" she said, pointing to a pile of prunings and weeds.

"Yeah, fine. Ronniekins can help me anyway."

When the girls were safely inside, Ron turned to George.

" _Georgie_?!"

"Shut it."

"I'm saying nothing. We're basically done now anyway. Let's go get some dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

"If you don't eat, I'm telling Bill about your _new nickname_."

"Okay, okay. Coming."

The next day came around very fast. When Ellie awoke, Ginny's bed was already empty, which had never happened in the week and a half she had been staying there. Ellie sighed and slumped her head back down on her pillow. This was going to be a long day.

When Ellie got downstairs she was greeted by the whole Weasley family sitting down for breakfast. Well, everyone except for George.

"Good morning pumpkin. Would you like some breakfast?" Molly asked, attempting to smile.

"Erm, thank you Molly, but I'd rather stick to coffee this morning. No offence." Ellie shrugged and walked over to the kitchen.

"Honestly Ellie, sometimes you wouldn't know you'd been raised by a family of wizards." Bill raised an eyebrow at her.

Ellie rolled her eyes and quickly changed the subject. "Where's George?"

Ginny lifted her head to look at Ellie, revealing her red, watery eyes. "Not in his room. I don't know…I saw him walking towards the meadow this morning. Like, an hour ago. He wasn't even dressed, still in his robe. When I tried to go after him he…he pushed me away."

"Maybe you could try Ellie?" Ron looked at her with hopeful eyes.

"What makes you think he's going to listen to me? I mean, you guys are family."

"It's different, Ellie" Charlie sighed. "Come on, I'll come with you. We can knock some sense into that boy together," he grinned.

Ellie walked towards the back door and pulled on one of the Weasley's old knitted jumpers over the top of her night-vest top, and tucked her pyjama bottoms into pair of old pink wellingtons. Probably Ginny's.

Once there were out the back door, Charlie offered Ellie his arm, and she gracefully accepted.

Charlie took a deep breath. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah," Ellie looked over at Charlie, her brow furrowed.

"There's something I need you…you've got to understand. When George is with you, I know that he's sweet and funny and a bit more like his old self again, and don't get me wrong, that's great...but when you're not around…well, he just goes backwards. The reason Ginny is crying is because of him. He made some insensitive comment about today…I don't know." Charlie took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is, for some unknown reason, you are the one person that George feels comfortable around at the moment and the one person that seems to be able to get him to open up."

"I don't know why."

Charlie let out a small laugh, and stopped walking to turn Ellie to face him. They had reached the trees. "Ellie, I just want to make sure that you're not going to hurt him. Well, any more than he already is."

"Is that really what you think of me, Charlie?" Ellie replied sourly.

"No! Ellie, no, that's…that's not what I meant. I just think that the feelings you have for each other right now are on completely opposite ends of the scale."

"Meaning?"

"He likes you Ellie."

Ellie's eyes widened in shock. "Oh."


	8. Chapter 8: Be Prepared

Chapter Eight

Ellie watched Charlie's figure retreating back to the house. There was no way. He must have got it wrong. There was no way that _George Weasley_ fancied _her._

She took a deep breath and walked through the line of trees into the meadow. George was sitting in the middle of the Quidditch pitch with his back to her, his knees up by his chest with his head resting in them. As she approached, she made sure that she made loud footsteps, as to not make him jump.

"Charlie, I'm not in the mood to talk" George said, not turning around.

"That's fine. We can just sit."

George spun his head around. "Ellie."

"Do I look like a Weasley?" she raised her eyebrow and sat down next to him, crossing her legs.

"I'm not ready for today." George sighed.

"Well, you need to buck up and be ready." Ellie turned to look at George. "We have to make it a proper party. None of that normal funeral crap. We're going to have enough of that in the next few weeks."

George didn't say anything, just looked straight ahead.

"George, talk to me."

"There's nothing to say."

"I've got _plenty_ to say."

"Go on then."

"Well, for starters, the beard. You need to shave it." She smiled.

"Why?"

"Because, today I want you to be a George that Fred would have been proud of. And the beard just doesn't fit in."

For the first time, George looked at Ellie and smiled. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay, you can shave my beard for me. If you want." He grinned. "Because I've never let it grow this long, and I don't know that I'm skilled enough to tackle it."

"And you think that I am?" When George shrugged, Ellie just laughed. "Okay then, we'd better do it now. I've got to get ready too," she winked.

George jumped up and offered Ellie his hand.

Back in the house, Ellie went into the bathroom George shared with Percy while George changed into an old t-shirt.

"George!" she called. "Which cupboard is yours?!"

"The one on the left." he called back.

Ellie found the razors and shaving foam in his cupboard, tucked well back behind deodorant, toothbrush and bottles of aftershave. It was obvious that they hadn't been used for some time. Ellie called him into the bathroom, filled a sink with warm water, got him to sit down on the bathroom chair and tilt his head back and then placed a hot flannel under his chin.

"What's this?" he chuckled. "What's the flannel for?"

"I don't know," Ellie giggled. "It's what they do in muggle films. It's like hot water and towels when someone is having a baby."

"I really need to watch one of these muggle 'films' with you sometime."

"Consider it a date."

Ellie couldn't see his mouth, but his eyes were twinkling with laughter. Good. Ellie wanted to keep them like that. She wanted to keep him happy, to make him forget, even just for a little while, what he was going to have to go through that day. So, she hummed, she told jokes, she gabbled. Anything to prolong the time before he started to over-think again.

Ellie rolled up the sleeves on the Weasley jumper that she was still wearing and began to lather the shaving foam over his chin, all the way up to his ears. Then she hesitated, blade over his chin. "Is this a bad time to tell you that I've only done legs before?"

George smiled a little and settled back in the chair. Ellie began to gently scrape at his skin with the blade, the silence only being broken by the splash of the water as she rinsed the razor. Ellie worked in silence, studying the Weasley's face. The lines that ran from the corners on his eyes, lines that seemed prematurely deep for his age. She smoothed his hair from the side of his face and saw tell-tale tracks of stitches. Perhaps from the war. She saw the mauve shadows that told of nights and nights of lost sleep, the furrow between the brows that spoke of silent pain. A warm sweetness rose from his skin, the scent of the shaving cream, and something that was particular to George himself, the discreet smells of liquorice and pumpkin pie. His face began to emerge, and Ellie began to remember why she used to think him and Fred were so attractive.

It was a curiously intimate thing, shaving George. It was almost impossible to be this close to someone, to have their skin tauten under your fingertips, to breath in the air that they breathed out, to have their faces only inches from yours, without feeling a little unbalanced. By the time Ellie had reached the other ear, or rather hole where the ear should be, she'd begun to feel awkward, as if she had overstepped an invisible mark.

George was able to read the subtle changes in Ellie's pressure on his skin. He opened his eyes, and Ellie found them staring straight into hers.

There was a short pause, and then he said, straight-faced, "Please don't tell me that you've shaved off my eyebrows."

Ellie gave a little awkward laugh. "Only the one." She turned around to rinse the blade, hoping that the colour would have drained from her cheeks by the time she turned around. "Right." She said finally, turning around, "Can I go and get ready now?"

"What about my hair?" he said.

"You want me to cut your hair?" Ellie furrowed her eyebrows and walked behind the chair to take a look at it.

"You might as well."

"Really?" Ellie began to run her fingers through his hair. "I like it long. But, it's up to you."

"You like it?"

She smiled at him, nodding, and walked back over to the sink to rinse it out.

"Then I'll keep it."

She turned around and raised her eyebrows at him. "So you're actually going to let me go and get ready?"

"Well. Can't have you looking like a slob for my brother can we?" he winked at her. "Go. My sister will kill me if I keep you any longer."

Back in Ginny's room, Ellie was in way out of her depth. She was no good when people cried, especially girls.

"Ellie, I have tried, _everything_ ," Ginny sat down on the edge of her bed in tears, an array of different outfits and dresses splayed out around her.

Ellie walked over to Ginny and put both of her arms around her, and gently rocked her until the sobs had subsided. She pulled away and looked at Ginny. "Gin, Fred would have been so proud of you today. You were one of only _two people_ from your family who were strong enough to help plan the funeral. He would have been so proud of how you survived the battle, and how well you fought in it. He wouldn't have cared what you _wore_ " She got a little smile out of Ginny. " _But,_ if you like, I could maybe pick an outfit for you?"

Ginny smiled at Ellie. "Could I wear one of your dresses? French fashion is so chic."

"Course."

An hour and a half later, the girls were ready. Ginny was wearing an emerald green sleeveless dress that went down to just above the knee and pulled in at the waist, with a denim jacket and Ellie's favourite pair of bright yellow Doc Martens. To accessorize, she was wearing a black feather necklace and a black ring, and her hair was straight with the middle section clipped back.

Ellie was wearing shorts that were patterned with white, dark blue and light blue tie-dyed diamonds, a white buttoned-up bloused tucked in, with a baby pink leather jacket and black strappy heels. Her long hair was pulled to one side and wrapped up in a sort of low side-ponytail, with the top bit tousled.

Ellie looked up from doing up her shoes, to see Ginny's eyes filling with tears again. "Gin?"

"It was a really lovely idea Els. This dress code." Ginny sniffed. "Fred would have loved his funeral to be the one where 'everyone has to dress in colour'"

"I know."

"I just…" Ginny continued. "I thought that it would be so long before I would have to deal with any of this. And it's only just hit me…" she swallowed, "he's not coming back."

"Honey, you've got so many people around you right now. You've got me, Harry, Hermione, Ron, as well as the rest of your brothers, your mother, your father, and all of your friends." She stood up, so she was looking Ginny directly in the eye, and took her hand. "Fred would have wanted today to be a celebration of his life, not a mourning over his death. And he would have wanted _you_ to enjoy the people around you and have fun."

"I know you're right." Ginny sniffed and wiped away the tears that stained her cheeks.

"Come on. We should go down. I can hear people arriving."

Downstairs, Ellie couldn't help but let her jaw drop at the amount of people that had turned up. It certainly showed just how popular the Weasley's were. The garden was filled with people of all different ages, sizes and breeds.

Elle could see George a little way away talking to a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks. She was just about to walk over to him, when a familiar voice sounded behind her.

"Ellie?"

Ellie turned around with a grin from ear to ear. "Draco?! You came!"

"Of course I did," he smiled, pulling her in for a big bear hug. "Couldn't leave my best cousin hanging could I?"

"Draco, I'm your _only_ cousin."

"Just take the compliment Ellie."

"Gotcha." Ellie winked.

"How are you Draco?" Ellie hadn't noticed Harry had walked up behind her, until he spoke. "I haven't seen you since…well…"

"Yes. I'm fine. It's good to see you," Draco answered politely, offering Harry is hand, which he accepted.

"Well, Draco, I'm sorry to have to steal Ellie away," Harry grabbed Ellie's hand, "But I'm afraid that there are just too many people waiting to meet her."

"Not at all. See you later Ellie," Draco smiled, leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and walked off.

Ellie turned to Harry. "Are there actually people who want to meet me, or were you just being a dick?"

Harry laughed. "Maybe I was a bit of a dick, but as it turns out, Ginny has been bragging about you a bit too much. And of course, there are all of George's friends as well."

"George has been talking about me?"

"Apparently so."

Ellie rolled her eyes a bit and smiled. Harry led her over to a big group of people that were standing with Ginny, Ron and Hermione.

"Ellie! Oh thank God, there you are! Come on, I want you to meet everyone!" Ginny exclaimed, taking her hand out of Harry's and pulling her further into the group. "This is Hagrid," she smiled.

Ellie's eyes widened as she looked up at the half-giant. He was about twice the size of an average man, with a long mane of shaggy black hair and a beard that covered most of his face. His hands were as bug as dustbin lids and his feet were like baby dolphins. He had light skin and dark eyes that glinted like black beetles.

"Good ter meet yer Ellie!" his voice boomed out. He had a massive smile on his face. "Ginny and George 'er have been boastin' about yer!"

Ellie blushed. "They were probably over exaggerating." Ginny called Ellie over again. "Nice to meet you," she smiled, giving a little wave.

"Els, this is Luna," Ginny grinned, introducing Ellie to a very pretty, petite girl, with waist-length straggly blonde hair, and wide grey eyes. Ellie took an immediate liking to her. Probably because of her wacky fashion sense – Ellie liked unique people.

"It's so nice to meet you," Luna said in a dreamy voice, smiling. "This is Neville," she said, pointing to the tall, round-faced boy who had just walked over, "he's my best friend."

"Nice to meet you both," Ellie smiled, as Ginny grabbed her arm and pulled her away again. "Seriously, Gin, how many more?!"

"Just one. It seems that George has made you out to be just-too-good-to-be-true." Ginny shrugged. "Els, this is Oliver Wood." She said smiling coyly, tapping a well-built, tall and burly man on the shoulder, and then walking away.

 _Wow_ , was all Ellie could think. Oliver was _gorgeous_. He had chocolate brown eyes, with shiny brown hair and a well-set jaw with a hint of stubble. He was smartly dressed in muggle chino knee-length shorts, with a white button down shirt that showed how toned his body was.

"Please, call me Ollie," he said, offering her his hand. When she accepted, he leant down and kissed her on the cheek, causing Ellie to blush. "So, I've finally met the famous Ellie in the flesh!"

"What exactly has George told you about me?" Ellie said, raising her eyebrow.

"That's for me to know," he grinned, "but what he conveniently forgot to mention was how beautiful you were," he winked.

"See, anyone would think that you were trying to _flirt_ with me, Mr Wood."

"Is there something wrong with that?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Not at all."

They spent a while talking. Ellie felt as though they had left the funeral, had left a world where everyone was sad, or angry, or crying. It was nice talking to Oliver. He was funny, and sweet, while putting her a bit on edge at the same time. He made her feel special, the fact that this gorgeous Quidditch player wanted to talk to _her_ of all people.

It wasn't until she felt an arm slide around her waist that she came crashing back down to reality. She looked around to find George staring down at her.

"You alright George, mate?" Oliver asked, raising his eyebrows a little at George's hand on Ellie's waist.

"Yeah. You guys look like you're having fun," George said in a hard tone.

"We are. Your friend Ellie here is quite a little treat," Oliver smiled down at Ellie.

"Yes, well, if you don't mind, _your little treat_ and I need a word." George said harshly, grabbing Ellie arm and dragging her to a remote corner of the garden, so they were slightly hidden by a drooping willow tree.

"What is your _problem_?!" Ellie half shouted half cried at George. "We were just talking!"

"Well, you don't want to talk to him."

"And why's that?"

"You know, he's had four supposed 'girlfriends' in the past two months. He's bad news."

"George, I appreciate you looking for me, but you _don't_ get to control who I don't and don't talk to."

"I thought I was doing the right thing."

"What, by making Oliver think that we're an item?!"

"At least I know that he won't bother you now."

"He wasn't _bothering me_ then! He was bothering _you_!"

"No he wasn't!" George folded his arms defensively.

"Then how do you explain you getting all jealous over us just _talking_?!"

"I wasn't jealous! And besides, that's completely off the point!"

"Right, whatever George." Ellie rolled her eyes and stalked off back over to the large crowd.

George rolled his eyes. For _fucks_ sake.


	9. Chapter 9: Goodbye Tears

Chapter Nine

Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat as she approached Ginny. Trust George.

"Ginny, your mum," Ellie said, pointing over at Molly, who was desperately trying to round everyone up. "I think it's time."

They walked over to join the procession, hand in hand. When everyone was rounded, they started the walk over the fields to the place where Fred was to be buried. While it was still on the Weasley's land, it was on the far field, secluded. George had chosen it.

Ellie decided to concentrate all her efforts on Ginny. Well, at least until Harry come back. She put an arm around her back and held her upright and kept her walking, while Ginny cried. She got her to her seat, next to Molly's, and went and sat in her allotted seat, on the edge of the aisle. After all, she had promised George.

The music started, but Ellie refused to turn around while Fred was carried down the aisle by his brothers, his dad and Harry. She could already feel her eyes filling with tears. She couldn't let everyone see that.

Once Fred was at the front, George squeezed past her and took his seat to her right. She lifted her head to look at him, to find that he already has tear-tracks on his face. He furrowed his eyebrows a bit when he saw her tears, but his eyes softened when she reached over and took his hand in hers. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it, and then focused his attention back to the front when Kingsley started talking.

The ceremony went very slowly. Ellie couldn't really concentrate on what the Minister was saying at the front. All she could hear was Ginny's and Molly's sobs behinds her, and George's sniffs next to her. About half way through, she felt George's body begin to shake next to her. When she looked up at him, he shook his head at her, and gripped onto her hand even tighter.

Ellie sighed. She let go on George clammy hand and slid her arm around his shoulders, tugging slightly so that he lowered his head.

"Fred never liked to see anyone cry," she whispered into his ear.

He looked at her, and gave her a weak smile. Ellie wrapped her other arm around him, and he buried his face into the crook of her neck amongst her hair. She gently rocked him and rubbed his back, as he sobbed silently.

When the ceremony finished, the rest of the boys got back up to carry Fred to his grave, but George stayed where he was. Ellie grimaced and shook her head at Charlie, so he called Oliver up to help. Oliver raised his eyebrows slightly at Ellie when he walked past, but she just rolled her eyes.

Everybody else filed out behind them. Molly gave Ellie a squeeze on the shoulder and a questioning look as she exited, but Ellie just shrugged. What was she supposed to do?

After what seemed like forever, George eventually lifted his head. His eyes were red and blotchy, and his hair was a mess, but Ellie just smiled at him.

"Where did everyone go?" he asked, looking around.

"Sweetie, the ceremony finished about ten minutes ago."

"Oh," he looked down at his hands and then looked back at her. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything."

Ellie smiled and shook her head at him. "You don't need to be sorry, honey."

"Yes I do. You're right, I don't get to control who you talk to. I was being an idiot."

"No. You were looking out for me," she took his face in her hands and kissed him on the cheek. "And thank you."

He blushed. "Anytime."

"We should probably get back to your family. They'll be wondering where we are."

"Can't I just stay with you, here, forever?" he said, shaking his head.

Ellie smiled. "Why? Because it's easier than facing reality? C'mon George, that's not the you I know."

"Reality sucks," George pouted.

"Believe me, I know," Ellie grinned.

"I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look today."

"Well, you picked out the jacket," she said, standing up and giving him a twirl.

"I told you pink was your colour."

"What, are you some kind of fashionista now?"

"I don't know what that is, but maybe I am," he smiled, standing up and grabbing Ellie by the waist.

"Good. Mean's that I've got myself my own personal stylist then doesn't it?" she raised her eyebrows, resting her hands on the back of his neck.

"Sure. If you want," he murmured, bending his head down.

"GEORGE? ELLIE?" came the calls of Bill from the line of trees. George and Ellie quickly broke out of the embrace and reassembled themselves, just in time to see Bill entering the field. "There you two are! Come on, mum's doing her left nut in worrying about you two."

George sighed, picked up Ellie's hand and followed his brother. Trust his family to ruin what should have been a perfect moment.

Back in the Weasley's back garden, the party was in full swing. Ellie tried to drag George over to where Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione were dancing, but when he shook his head at her she just shrugged and let go of his hand to go over and join her friends. Instead, George stuck his hands in his pocket and went to take a seat next to the buffet.

He sat there alone for what felt like ages. He kept replaying that moment over and over in his mind, the moment when his and Ellie's lips had almost met. She had _wanted_ him to kiss her.

George lifted his head and looked over at her on the dance floor. Her and Ginny were dancing together, twirling each other around and laughing their heads off. George felt a pang of jealously. That should be him. Not that he was in the mood for dancing right now.

"Hey man, you alright?" Lee came and took a seat next to him.

"Yeah. Fine." He replied, not taking his eyes off Ellie.

Lee followed George's line of sight, and smiled. "What's with that girl anyway?"

George broke his line of vision to turn his head to his best friend. "What are you talking about?"

"Man, you are smitten!"

"I don't know what you are taking about," George said, letting his eyes rest back onto Ellie.

"You don't need to be ashamed of it George! It's good."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

Ellie eyes met his, and she gave him a brilliant smile, which made his cheeks flood with colour. Unfortunately, the clicking of spoons of glass broke their contact, and they both turned their heads to the source of the noise. Bill.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention please?" he called out. When everybody was silent, he started. "Myself and Fleur have an announcement to make, and well…we couldn't think of a better time than when we were surrounded by our friends, or family, and in some ways, by my late brother," he swallowed, "We're pregnant."

The whole party exploded. Molly rushed up and hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her face. Everyone else followed to suit, offering their congratulations, asking about names and the gender of the baby. No one noticed George's sudden exit into the house. Well, nobody except Ellie.

She followed him inside, and ended up outside his bedroom. She knocked, but she received no answer. She had never been inside his room before, she didn't know if she should. Well, there's a first time for everything right?

"George?" she called out softly, as she entered the bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of one of the beds, staring straight ahead. "George?" she repeated, walking over to him and dropping to her knees in front of him, taking his hand in hers.

"It's not okay Ellie," he shook his head at her, his voice empty of all emotion. "They are moving on and forgetting about him. It's _not_ okay."

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows at him. Not only was his voice empty, but his eyes were dull, his face expressionless. There wasn't the usual pain, or the normal anger that she would expect. "George. They are in no way forgetting Fred. Look, I know this is hard, but _please_ -"

"I want to be alone," he cut her off, in that same voice.

Ellie held onto his hand tighter and firmly shook her head. "No."

"Ellie, I mean it. Go. I don't need a _babysitter_ ," he spat. At least there was a bit more emotion that time.

"George, I'm not leaving you alone when you're like this."

"Fine," he stood up and wrenched his hand out of Ellie grasp. "I'll leave."

"What?" Where are you goin—" She was cut off but the sound and force of George apparating out of his bedroom.

Fantastic.

Ellie rushed back down stairs, and ran into the back garden, looking for someone who could help.

"Bill!" she called out, seeing that he was standing with Fleur. "Bill, _please_ come over here!"

"Ellie?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows are her wild expression. "What's happened?"

"Nothing. Well, something, but…" she took a deep breath. "Ginny told me what when the war was over, George would get upset sometimes. Like, psychotically upset. And that he used to go out." She took a deep breath, "Do you know where he used to go?!"

"Erm, lots of places really. Anywhere he could get drunk," when Ellie sighed, he added on, "But when he got really, really upset, he'd go to Knockturn Alley. It was the only place that was as bad as he felt."

When Ellie started to back away, he got more concerned. "Ellie, what the hell is this all about?!"

Ellie eyes began to fill with tears. "He's upset. Like, really upset. And I tried to comfort him, but he pushed me away," she let the tears fall down her cheek, "and then he apparated. And now I have to go and find him."

And with that, she disappeared.

Ellie took a deep, shaky breath, and began to walk down the alley behind Borgin and Burkes, and towards the main street that ran down Knockturn alley. Her stomach turned at the smell of what appeared to be urine and blood.

On her way down the high street, Ellie kept her head down and her hand in her pocket, wrapped around her wand, but she was extremely aware that despite her best efforts, she was drawing a lot of attention to herself. Ellie tried her best to ignore the stares and calls of straggly old witches with crooked noses, or large men that smelled disgusting. At one point, someone reached out the grab her arm, but she managed to twitch it out of the way just in time.

Only one thought kept Ellie going. George. The thought of him holed up away somewhere in a pub drinking away his sorrows was enough to keep her driving forward.

And then she saw it. The pub. It was a huge building with wooden doors and the blast of music and laughter coming out of it. It reminded Ellie of the saloons you see in old muggle country-western movies.

Once inside, she searched around for the symbolic view of the Weasley-red hair. But there was no sign of it anywhere. Ellie's vision began to blur as her eyes filled with tears, and she was hit with the sudden urge to vomit as she pushed her way back through the crowds of people, heading for the door.

Back outside, Ellie began to walk briskly down the more silent streets, and eventually found a secluded alleyway which she stepped into, hunching down and placing her hands on her knees and she struggled to regain her composure.

She was quickly reminded of where she was, however, when she heard the sounds of heavy footsteps, and looked up just in time to see three large wizards round the corner, their black cloaks billowing out behind them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" one man drawled, giving Ellie a smile that sent shivers down her spine.

Ellie started to run in the opposite direction to the way she had come, only to find that the alley was a dead end. There were tall walls either side of her, and eventually, she was backed up against the third one. She went to grab for her wand, only to find that she couldn't move or say anything.

"Oh," one man said in a mocking voice, his wand pointed at me. He was obviously controlling me. "I don't think that she wants to play, boys."

"Shame," said one of the other two, stepping forward to twirl a strand of her hair around his fingers, "Such a pretty little thing."

"Maybe we should show her just what she's missing," piped in the third one.

"Hm. Maybe. But it's much more fun when they _struggle_ ," the one controlling Ellie lowered his wand, and she immediately felt her muscles relax, but before she could reach for her wand, he grabbed her by the back of her neck and pushed her up against the wall with such force that she cried out in pain.

Everything went very blurry after that. She was aware of one hand on the back of her throat, and another had found its way up inside her shirt, and was groping at the bare skin of her stomach. Ellie's eyes widened when she heard the jingle of a man undoing his belt buckle, and just prayed that she would pass out in time to have no recollection of what was about the happen.

And then something changed.

Ellie eyes were closed, so she forced them open. There was one hand still under her shirt, and one still on her neck, but the man closest to her had a wand pointed at his head by someone that she couldn't quite make out.

"Let. Her. Go. _Now_." A familiar voice seethed.

Ellie thought that she was going to explode with relief. " _Bill_ ," she breathed.

The man's eyes widened when he saw that he was faced with a member of the famous Weasley family. With a loud crack, he apparated, his friends following suit, leaving Ellie to fall to the ground.

"Ellie?" Bill collapsed to his knees in front of her. "Are you hurt?"

Ellie's hands were trembling, and she lifted one up to graze her throat. "I'm…I think I'm okay. Thanks to you."

Bill helped Ellie up, and then bent over to pick up her wand, studying her carefully. "So did you find him? Did you find George?"

Ellie shook her head. "He wasn't there. Where else would he go?"

Bill sighed. "Ellie, I don't think that this is the right thing for you to be worrying about right now. I think you should go home."

Ellie looked at him as if he were mad. "No. I can't. _I won't_. Not until I find George."

Ellie pushed away from the wall, planning to apparate, but as soon as she moved, Bill's hand was on her arm.

"He would go to the Leaky Cauldron, most likely," he sighed, and when Ellie tried to break from his grasp he added on, "You really think that I'm going to let you go off on your own again? I'm coming with you."

Ellie gave him a short, appreciative smile, grabbed his hand, and apparated to right outside the Leaky Cauldron.

Once they were inside, Ellie searched wildly for any sign of George.

"Come on Ellie," Bill said, pulling her over towards the bar, "Let's ask Tom."

Ellie nodded, and followed Bill over to the bar.

"Bill!" Tom exclaimed when he saw him, "Oh and you've brought little Ellie with you. Nice to see you again my dear!"

Ellie nodded and did her best to smile.

"Tom," Bill intercepted, "We're looking for my brother, George. Is he here?"

"George…" Tom searched him memory, "Yeah, he was here. Reckon he still is too."

"Thank you!" Ellie exclaimed, a wave of relief sweeping over her body.

"Not at all. He had that pretty Katie Bell with him," Tom continued, and Ellie felt her body go numb. "Heard her trying to get him into a room upstairs," he said with a playful grin, winking at Bill.

Ellie turned to Bill. "Who is Katie Bell?"

Bill sighed. "His ex-girlfriend."

Ellie let her head drop and let out a pathetic little whimper. Bill put an arm around her, and lifted her head up, telling her that it was going to be okay. Then his eyes settled on something behind her, and he nodded indicating that Ellie should look as well.

And there he was. He was sitting at a small table right at the back, with his white tuxedo jacket draped carelessly over the table. He had the sleeve of his pale blue shirt rolled up to his elbows, and his long hair was wild and tousled. He had a large bottle of Firewhiskey sitting in front of him, and she watched as her lifted the bottle and brought it to his lips, swallowing the amber liquid as if it were pumpkin juice.

But what Ellie noticed the most, and what she was most angered with, was the pretty brunette witch, sitting far too close to George and looking _far_ too cosy. George looked way more interested in the Firewhiskey bottle than in the girl sitting next to him, but as she leaned in and whispered something into his ear, Ellie go the urge to whip out her wand and hex the girl into oblivion.

Ellie stormed across the room.

"Ellie," came the pathetic plea from Bill, as he followed close behind.

George looked completely taken aback as Ellie positioned herself in front of the table with her arms crossed over her chest to stop herself from physically removing Katie by her hair.

"Els," George slurred, his eyes wide and glassy, "What're you doin' 'ere?"

"I was just keeping an eye on him," Katie inserted sweetly, "He's really drunk."

"I can tell that for myself, thanks," Ellie replied sourly.

"Err…thanks Katie," Bill muttered.

"I'll leave you to it then," Katie sighed, and leaned into George's side, "See you later Georgie-pie," she smiled and placed and lingering kiss on his cheek, before sauntering off into the crowd of people.

"George," Ellie started, fighting her feelings and attempting to remain calm. "We're going home now."

"Are you trying to hint at something Malfoy?" he grinned, "Y'know, if you want me in bed, we can just go upstairs…"

Ellie took a deep breath. "We're going _home_."

"Home," George furrowed his eyebrows. "S'not home. S'not home without Fred."

Ellie sighed. "Bill?!"

"Ellie, I'm going to take him to the flat," Bill replied, gabbing George's arm and wrapping in around his shoulders so that he could support him. "Can't have mum seeing him in this state. Come over in the morning. I'm sure that he's going to want to see you."

"Wha…What do I tell everyone?!"

"Just tell them that George wanted to get away. And tell them that I went with him, to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid. Okay?"

Ellie nodded. What else cold she do?

And then they were gone.


	10. Chapter 10: A Studded Bralet

Chapter Ten

As soon as Ellie awoke the next morning, the shot in for the first shower, to wash her hair and clean her teeth. She scrubbed all the places where those men had grabbed her, as if trying to wash away the memory.

When she got back into the bedroom, she pulled on black jeans, and chose her black studded bralet for her top half. She picked up her jacket, and then put on her shoes. She left her hair down and natural, which meant that it was wavy and very tousled. She looked herself over in the mirror and nodded. It'd do.

She walked over to Ginny's side of the room and gently shook her.

"Gin?" she said softly, until Ginny opened her eyes slightly, "I'm going to the flat to see George."

Ginny nodded, and then let her head fall back down onto the pillow. Ellie smiled. Typical Ginny.

Ellie apparated into Diagon Alley. It was still early and there were hardly anyone on the streets, but with the events of last night still on her brain, she took a brisk walk up the high street, until she stopped directly in front of the shop.

The little bell above the door rang as she stepped inside. Ginny had told her that the twins flat had been at the top of the spiralling staircase, and sure enough, once she had climbed the stairs, she was faced with a bright yellow door with a gold knocker on it in the shape of a ' _W_ '.

She was just about to knock, when she heard raised voices from inside.

"She did _what_?!"

"George, she was just looking out for _you_!"

"By going _there_?! In what way is that he-"

"George, I have to go. But she said she'd come by soon," Bill said in a slightly calmer voice.

Ellie should have been prepared when the front door was yanked open in front of her, but she still yelped in shock.

Bill's face dropped when he saw her. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

"I'm sorry Ellie. I couldn't not tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"Look, I'm sorry, I have to go. I was only trying to help…" he took a deep breath. "Fleur's waiting."

And he apparated on the spot.

Ellie took a deep breath and told herself to stop being so silly. This was George. _George._

Ellie stepped inside the door and shut it loudly behind her to make her presence known to George. It didn't take her long to find him. He was sitting in the living room on the sofa with his back to her, staring at the now-lit fireplace.

"George?"

He didn't turn around to face her. "Ellie," he said coldly.

"What was that all about?" Ellie asked, knitting her eyebrows together. "Why were you shouting?"

George didn't answer, but instead repositioned himself so that his chin was resting on his hand, and he was staring up at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ellie asked, completely at loss for what to do.

"I'm just trying to figure out," George began, his voice wavering slightly, "why someone so _brilliant_ , would do something so amazingly _stupid._ "

Ellie eyes widened in shock. _He_ was angry at _her_?! "Surely you're referring to your actions last night," she spat back at him.

Ellie's anger didn't faze George. "You went to _Knockturn Alley_ ," George spoke through clenched teeth, "At _night_. _On your own_."

Ellie stood frozen to the spot, her eyes wide. Why, Bill, _why_?!

"What the fucking hell were you thinking?!" George yelled, jumping up from his seat.

Ellie found her voice again. "What do you mean ' _what was I thinking_ '?! I was thinking of _you_!"

"In what way is swanning off the Knockturn Alley _thinking of me_?!" George yelled, sound exasperated.

"You make it sound like I was _enjoying_ myself!" Ellie said, getting defensive. "And don't you _dare_ talk to me like that! I am not some fragile, breakable thing, just because I'm a _girl_! I lived in a house full of _Death Eaters_ for seven months for _fucks_ sake, and I seem to have survived that! I can take care of myself, which I more than I can say for you!"

They were both silent for a moment, staring at each other, their faces inches apart. Ellie was bracing herself, waiting for him to yell again, but instead, his eyes began to shine with tears. Ellie furrowed her eyebrows, and he stepped forward, placed a hand on the back of her neck, and let the other one graze one of the sensitive bruises on her neck.

"Can take care of yourself, can you?" he managed to choke out.

Ellie refused to look up at his face, despite him standing so close. She swallowed hard, starting to feel nervous under his intense stare as he studied all her bruises.

"Bill said that you were surrounded by three fully grown men when he found you. Said that they were holding you up against the wall, and that they were…groping," George swallowed hard and rested his chin on the top of Ellie's head. "Surely you realise that they were planning on _raping_ you Ellie."

Ellie broke away from George's embrace. "Really George?" Ellie let out a harsh laugh, "Because I hadn't _quite_ got the message when one of the men started undoing his trousers!"

George stood there, mouth a gape. Apparently Bill had left of the full extent of the state that he had found her in. "What?" he said weakly.

Ellie stood there, her eyes filling with tears. She refused to look at George's face, but after a while her eyes found their own way to his. She opened her mouth to say something, but something about George's demeanour stopped her in her tracks

George had a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. Before she knew what was happening, he began to move towards her.

And then he kissed her. Hard. One of his arms found their way around her waist and he let the other one get lost in her long mane of tousled hair. He pulled her body as close to his as it would go, twisting them around and pushing Ellie gently backwards until her back made contact with a wall. George's arm took the force of the impact, but the action was rough enough to force their mouths apart for a second to let Ellie catch her breath. It wasn't long though, before George's lips claimed hers again, in a kiss more heated than the last. Ellie knew that she was still angry at him, furious even, but in that moment, in that kiss with all of the sweetness and warmth, and urgency like she had never experienced before, George was all she could focus on. He seemed to have forgotten to keep the cool and aloof control that the twins had been so famous for, as he moved his lips frantically against hers for what could have been minutes, hours, months…Ellie didn't know, and nor did she care. They stayed like that for what could have been forever, until George broke his lips away from hers, and began to plant sweet, small kisses across her jaw line, and began to make his way down his neck. Ellie lost herself in the feeling of his warm lips on her skin, the excitement of it sending shivers down her spine. It wasn't until George's lips made contact with one of the more purple bruises on her collar-bone, the she was brought back down to earth and whimpered in pain.

George quickly pulled back. His lips were red and swollen, and his whole demeanour was slightly wild and out-of-it as he stared at Ellie. His gorgeous brown eyes started to become dark, and Ellie saw an anger flickering in them that she had never seen before.

"George," she whispered slowly and carefully. He honestly looked about a moment away from a full-blown meltdown. "George, I'm fine. They didn't do anythi—" She began to explain, but it was replaced by a frightened yelp as he spun around and punched the spot directly above Ellie's head. He groaned slightly as he removed his fist from the dent that he had made, and he hissed when he flexed out his hand. From where Ellie was standing, she could see that three of his knuckles were busted and bleeding quite badly.

She moved towards him and reached for his hand, but he jerked it away from her.

Ellie looked down at the floor, not letting George see that her eyes were filling with tears. "Why won't you let me help you?"

George sighed and took a step back from Ellie. "Ellie, I have never wanted to hurt anyone as much as I want to go and hurt those sick men who thought that they had touching rights to you," he started in a harsh voice, "And I can't believe that you willingly went to _Knockturn Alley_ , knowingly putting yourself in danger. And I _can't believe_ that you don't even seem to give a _shit_ about it!"

Ellie's froze in shock. "Are you _blaming_ me for last night?!"

George's eyes widened. "No." he started moving towards Ellie, his hand reaching out for her. " _Never_ ," he added on rather forcefully when she moved out of his reach. "Ellie, of course not!"

"You _are_ blaming me!" Ellie voice was high-pitched and almost disbelieving. "You're blaming _me_ when this whole thing was _your_ fault! _You're_ the one that went off and got drunk without tell me where you were going. I went to Knockturn Alley looking for _you_! And where did I find you? Cuddled up cosily in a pub with your _ex-girlfriend_!"

"You make it sound like I was shagging her right before your eyes! She was just _there_! I can't help it if she showed up," George suddenly knitted his brow. "And what's it to you if I _was_ with Katie?! It's not like you're my girlfriend or anything. So if I want to go and get with my ex-girlfriend, _I bloody well will_!"

Ellie hardened her jaw and blinked back the tears that were misting her eyes. "Fine. Do whatever you want George." She turned her back on him and headed towards the door, only to have his hand grab her arm, holding her back.

"Ellie, I didn't mean that."

Ellie let the tears fall down her face, not bothering to reach up and wipe them away. "No. You did. And you were right. I'm not your girlfriend. So let's just forget this, yeah?"

She pulled her arm out of George's grasp, and opened the front door. She closed it behind her and George heard the distinctive popping noise of her apparating.


	11. Chapter 11: Waffles

Chapter Eleven

Ellie groaned as Ginny opened the curtains, letting the sunlight flood the room.

"Are you trying to kill me Ginny?!" Ellie grumbled, pulling the duvet over her head.

"No. You're doing that on your own," Ginny said firmly, grabbing the end of Ellie duvet and wrestling it off of her. "Ellie, _enough_! You have been holed up in here ever since you got back from George's, and I think I've seen you eat about three square meals since, and that's _only_ because I force fed you. It's been a _week_! You are going to get up, out of this bed, and come shopping with me in Diagon Alley today. It'll do you good."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope," Ginny smiled, opening up Ellie's wardrobe. "Now are you going to pick out your outfit, or do I have to do that too?"

Ellie sighed and sat up. "You can pick the outfit. I'm going for a shower."

"Good girl," Ginny said, handing Ellie her a towel.

When Ellie come back from her shower, she rolled her eyes at the outfit Ginny had picked.

"Really, Ginny?! I was thinking that today could be a more jeans-and-tshirt-day."

"Ellie! Its summer! And besides, I'm a firm believer that if you look good, you feel good."

"It's going to take a bloody miracle for me to feel good," Ellie grumbled, but started to pull on the outfit anyway.

"Why exactly are we going to Diagon Alley then?"

"Fleur and Bill are having a party thing at theirs tomorrow. I need a new dress," Ginny answered, as she began to brush Ellie's long hair up into a bun. "She wants you to come as well. It's to celebrate the pregnancy."

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow."

Ellie sighed. "I don't know Gin. Maybe."

"Okay," Ginny struggled with Ellie's hair. "Merlin Ellie, how do you put up with this?! I'd have cut it off by now if I were you."

Ellie shrugged. "You get used to it."

"I suppose," Ginny took a deep breath. "Look, Ellie, you haven't spoken to anyone but me since you got back last week. And you haven't even told _me_ what happened. And I know _something_ happened, because according to Bill, George is worse than you."

"Good."

"Ellie, we're supposed to be best friends."

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. "There's not much to tell."

"All I know is what Bill let slip one night. That George went off and you went to find him. And that you err…" Ginny took a deep breath, "that you went to Knockturn Alley. And then you found him in the Leaky Cauldron."

"Sounds accurate."

"What happened the next morning though?" Ginny persisted, still battling with Ellie's hair.

"Stays between us?"

"Of course."

Ellie sighed. "Okay."

And she told Ginny everything, from start to finish. When she finished, she turned around to face Ginny, to find her best friends mouth a gape and her eyes wide.

"You _kissed_?!"

"Seriously Ginny?" Ellie said exasperatingly.

"Right, yeah. Big picture," Ginny grimaced. "What are you going to do?"

"What _can_ I do?"

Ginny shrugged.

"Look, Gin, we should go now," Ellie jumped up off the bed, desperate for a change in subject. "I know how long it takes you to pick out an outfit," she added on with a raised eyebrow.

Ginny grinned. "You're right. I just want to grab some breakfast first. I smelt waffles cooking earlier."

"Right, fine."

Although they all tried to hide it, the shock on everyone's faces was evident as Ellie walked down the stairs with Ginny.

"You alright Ellie?" Bill asked, breaking the silence.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she shot back, taking a seat in between Ron and Harry.

"No reason," he answered looking back down at the table.

"Ellie!" Molly exclaimed as she stepped into the room with a stack of waffles. "It's good to see you pumpkin!"

Ellie managed to smile weakly at her. Molly placed a plate in front of Ellie which she had loaded up with waffles topped with maple syrup and strawberries, Ellie's usual favourite. But this time, all Ellie could do was stare down at it.

"Bill," Molly started. "How's my George doing?"

Bill looked nervously over at Ellie, who was refusing to look at anything but her plate at the moment. "Erm, yeah, he's fine mum. I'm popping over there later today."

"Maybe you could convince him to come home? I don't like the thought of him holed up in that flat all on his own. And I see you reason for it."

"I don't know mum. I have already tri-" Bill was cut off by the sound of Ellie standing up, causing the table to move.

"Sorry, I just…" she trailed off, letting the tears that had begun to mist her eyes fall down her cheeks. "Gin, I'll wait for you outside yeah?" she squeaked, before making a swift departure out the back door.

"Did I day something?" Molly said a confused look on her face.

"No mum," Ron smiled up at her.

"I'll go talk to her while you finish your breakfast Gin, okay?" Bill smiled down at his little sister, making his way towards the back door.

Once he got outside, he looked around frantically for Ellie. She was nowhere in sight. He walked through the line of trees into the Quidditch meadow, only to find that she wasn't in there either. It was only when he walked into the next field that he caught sight of her brilliant blonde hair in the sunlight. He almost ran over to her, but then stopped himself when he saw where she was sitting.

She was sitting next to Fred's grave.

Bill walked over her, almost silently, but making sure that he stepped on a few twigs on his way, just to make his presence known. He sat down directly to her right, but facing her and gave her a questioning look.

"I can't help but think," Ellie said in a thick voice, looking straight ahead so Bill didn't know if she was talking to him or herself, "how different things would be if he was here right now. If he hadn't died. Things with George," she breathed out heavily and blinked as new tears formed in her eyes. "Things with George aren't _supposed_ to be this difficult. Not at this stage. We're supposed to be at the _exciting_ stage, the butterflies-in-my-tummy every time I see him stage. But no. Instead, we shared _our first kiss_ in the middle of a full-blown argument where he almost hit me."

"Ellie, it's…it's complicated. Fred dying…it's really destroyed him."

"While I appreciate that Bill," Ellie started in a hard voice, "I am _sick_ of everything that goes on between me and George being a consequence of _this_. You know, I've _tried_ to be there for him, and I've _tried_ to be supportive, and _look what I get in return_!"

"What do you expect from him Ellie?!" Bill said in a slightly raised voice, sounding exasperated.

Ellie sighed, and clambered up onto her feet. "You know what Bill; I wouldn't expect you not to side with your brother," she started calmly. "But you can't for _one second_ tell me that I am being irrational. I know that you all know my story. Ginny told me about the briefing you all had before I arrived" she sighed. "I just…I thought that he would have asked me about it by now. I know he's been to hell and back, but so have I. he only seems to care about his own demons though."

"George cares about you way more than you know Ellie."

"Really? He has a fucking funny way of showing it," she spat. "He's had all week to come and see me, to try and made amends. But he hasn't. And if he cares about me as _much_ as you say he does, he would have."

"Well I haven't seen you rush over there to make sure he's okay either!" Bill jumped up onto his feet.

"Why should I have to?" Ellie said, knitting her brow.

"Sorry…no, I didn't mean that," Bill sighed and walked over to Ellie. "Look, Ellie, I don't know what to say. This…this is between _you and George_. It's your fight, and _nobody_ else can fix it but you two."

"I know," Ellie sighed. "I'd better get back to Ginny. Can you tell I've been crying?"

"Not at all," Bill smiled.

"Good. Are you walking back or…?"

"No…I err, I'm going to stay here for a bit."

Ellie smiled. "Okay. See you later."

Bill watched her leave, and when she was safely out of the field, he turned to face the big willow tree behind Fred's grave. "How much did you hear?"

George emerged from behind the tree, showing his own tear-stained face. "All of it." He sniffed. "When did you notice I was there?"

"Right after I yelled."

"Right."

"What are you going to do?" Bill asked, walking closer to his brother.

George smiled. "I'm gonna win the girl. After all, who can resist a Weasley?"


	12. Chapter 12: Date Night

Chapter Twelve

When Ellie got back to the Burrow that night, she was exhausted. She and Ginny had decided to ditch Diagon Alley, and go muggle shopping, and surprisingly, it had cheered Ellie up immensely, as well as resulting in quite a few new outfits for both of them.

When she had wrestled her way up to the bedroom with _both_ of their bags, seeing as Ginny had ditched her for Harry when he had met them at the Leaky Cauldron, all she wanted to do was climb into bed. But when she opened the door, he eyes widened in shock to see _Ron_ of all people sat on the end of her bed.

"There you are," he smiled up at her.

"Not trying to sound rude," Ellie began, walking into the room and placing the bags at the end of Ginny's bed, "But what the _hell_ are you doing in here?"

"I'm here to see you," he smiled innocently up at her, obviously enjoying the tease.

" _Ronald Weasley_."

He let out a chuckle. "Ellie relax. I only wanted to talk to you."

"Concerning what?"

He sighed nervously. "Will you take a walk with me? I'd rather people didn't overhear us." He signalled to the next room, or rather, Molly and Arthur's room.

Ellie narrowed her eyes slightly at him, but nodded her head in agreement all the same. He led her down the stairs and out into the back garden. It was dark, but still warm, and the moonlight lit the garden for them.

"Ellie, I just…" Ron began, and took a deep breath. "I wanted to tell you how grateful I am to you."

Ellie knitted her brow. "You're what? _Why_?"

He let out a small chuckle. "You may not have noticed all the change you have made, but the rest of us have."

"Such as?"

"Well…Mum for a start. Before you came, it seemed that she had sort of given up. And then you turn up, and she's busying around in the kitchen, acting like her old self again? That has to count for something. And then there's Ginny. She's brightened up since you arrived, she's smiling all the time, and when she does get upset, she comes and talks to us, and doesn't hide up in her room like she was." Ron took a deep breath. "And then, of course, there's George." He stopped walking as they reached the end of the garden, right before the line of trees that led into the meadow. "Look, I don't know what's going on between you two at the moment, and I don't need to know, I just…Ellie, I don't think that George has never felt about _anyone_ the way he feels about you. I can tell, I grew up with him. I was there through _all_ the girlfriends that he used to come home bragging about. But that's the thing, I guess. He used to _brag_ about them. He doesn't with you."

"I'm not his girlfriend."

Ron just smiled down at her as he took her hand and led her through the line of trees. As they entered the meadow, Ellie let out a small gasp in shock.

Over in the corner by the old oak tree, someone had set up a thick blanket surrounded by pillows and cushions. There was a large picnic basket, next to a stereo, and the whole set up was surrounded by hundreds of tea-lights floating in the air. There were fairy lights wound around the tree's lower branches, and, standing in front of it all, leaning against a tree, was George, wearing a white shirt with a black tie, tucked into black skinny jeans.

When he started walking towards them, Ellie turned around as if she were about to start walking back, but Ron grabbed her wrist, holding her back.

"Ellie, please give him a chance," he murmured into her ear.

Sighing, Ellie turned back around, just as George was approaching.

"Thank you Ronald," he said, smiling at his brother. "But I can take it from here."

"I'll leave you two to it then," Ron smiled, shooting Ellie a meaningful glance before disappearing back through the trees.

Ellie and George stood there for a few moments, both unsure of what to say.

"How's your fist?" Ellie asked nervously, attempting to break the ice.

George let out a chuckle. "It's fine. The wall took more of a hit than me."

Ellie nodded at the floor, not able to bring herself to look at George's face. "What's all that then?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and nodding at the scene behind George.

"A date."

"A date?" Ellie said, unsuccessfully hiding the tone of surprise in her voice.

"Yep," George answered, grinning.

"Doesn't a date usually involve _asking_ the other person if they would like to join you, not using your brother to trick them into entering it?" Ellie narrowed her eyes at him."

"Usually, yes. But, I wanted this to be a surprise," he leaned over and took Ellie's hand, leaving their faces inches apart. "And are you honestly telling me that you would have turned me down?"

Ellie's original nervousness was replaced by a sense of annoyance. "In light of recent events, I may just have." She replied haughtily, snatching her hand out of George's grasp.

"Ellie," George started, running a hand through his hair. "You're never going to understand how sorry I am for everything I have done for you..."

"It's okay George. It wasn't all you."

"Don't you _dare_ try and make out like what I did to you was okay. You'd just been attacked, but instead of comforting you like I should have, I yelled at you. I pushed you out. That is bloody well not okay."

"Maybe it's not _okay_ as such," she smiled. "But I forgive you."

"Why are you making this so easy for me?" George said looking confused. "You should be yelling at me, or hexing me right now. Not standing there welcoming me back with open arms."

Ellie shrugged and bit down on her lip. "You know George," Ellie let out an almost disbelieving laugh. "I any other boy had tried to pull that on me, I would have dropped him right there on the spot. You know that, right?"

George nodded. "What makes me so special then?"

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is that you _are_ special. To me."

George was grinning from ear to ear when Ellie looked back up at his face. "And there you were trying to convince me that you wouldn't have come on this date with me."

"I still might go back."

George just smirked and took a step towards her. "You're a rubbish liar."

Ellie crossed her arms and glared at him, taking a larger step back. "I'm not lying."

"Yes you are." George smiled, taking another step forward.

"No," Ellie said, taking another step back and letting out a tiny yelp as her back came into contact with a large tree trunk. "I'm not lying."

"You look a bit nervous Els," George raised his eyebrows, closing the distance between them. When the tips of their toes were touching, he leaned in and placed his hands either side of her head on the tree truck, supporting his weight.

Ellie looked him directly in the eye. "I'm _not_ nervous. You're deluded."

"Do you know what I think?" George grinned down at her. "You're nervous because you know that you wouldn't turn me down. As much as you'd like to think you are, even you aren't immune to the Weasley charm, Miss Malfoy."

Ellie rolled her eyes, trying not to let show how flustered she was. "You're so arrogant."

"I'm not too proud to beg if that's what it takes," George leaned in further so that their foreheads were touching. "Please will you come on a date with me Ellie?" he pouted, sticking out his bottom lip and stared at her with a pleading look in his chocolate brown eyes.

Ellie giggled and pushed him gently off of her. "I can't stay long," she turned around and smiled at him and she started striding towards George's creation. "Got a big day tomorrow."

"Ah yes," George ran to catch up with her. "The party."

Ellie nodded and collapsed cross-legged onto the blanket. George followed suit, sitting right across from Ellie.

"Are you going to come?"

George sighed. "I'm undecided."

Ellie stared at him for a few seconds, deciding whether or not to pursue the topic. "You got food?" Ellie eventually said, nodding at the picnic basket.

"Oh yeah!" George jumped up to his knees. "You hungry?"

"Starving. What you got?" Ellie crawled over to where George was kneeling next to the basket, unpacking it.

"I asked Ginny for some of your favourites," George smiled up at her. "I hope they're up to your standards."

George really had thought of everything. Ellie smiled.

"You did all of this for me?" Ellie quirked an eyebrow at him over his shoulder.

"Course. And…" he leaned over Ellie to grab a box. "Music."

Ellie grinned. "You really thought of everything didn't you?"

"Well, I wanted to make it up to you. You should feel privileged. You have the most gorgeous Weasley under your command for the whole evening."

Ellie smiled and leaned over to place a delicate kiss on George's cheek. "I certainly do." She said, picking a CD out of the box and inserting it into the stereo. Music started playing softly and Ellie faced back to the picnic that George had set out.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked, taking out two glasses. "We have Elf-Made Wine or Butterbeer."

Ellie laughed. "Enough alcohol there Georgie? Anyone would think that you're trying to get me drunk."

George grinned at the nickname. "Is there something wrong with that, Els?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I suppose not," Ellie said, reaching for one of the tall champagne glasses. "The wine, if you would be so kind."

George filled her glass, and then filled his own.

"So…what have you been doing this week?" Ellie said while biting into a stuffed date.

"What have I been doing? Hmm… _what have I been doing_? Well, my schedule this week mainly consisted of moping around in my apartment and avoiding all human contact," George smiled. "Yourself?"

"More or less the same," Ellie shrugged. "Except it was kind of hard avoiding _all_ human contact considering I share a room with one."

George grimaced and nodded. "And did you tell Ginny?"

"Tell her what?"

"What happened?"

Ellie nodded. "She's my best friend."

"I get that." George said with a smile, his eyes not leaving Ellie.

"So, seeing as you know my favourite foods, what are yours?" Ellie asked, attempting to switch George's attention after getting a bit uncomfortable under his intense stare.

"Ooo, hard question there Malfoy," George grinned. "Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with all of your _fancy_ muggle foods," he said gesturing to the spread, "But my favourite foods are probably pumpkin pasties, steak and kidney pudding and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans."

Ellie wrinkled her nose. "I got an _acid_ flavour one once. It burnt my tongue. I've been too scared to eat any since."

An evil grin spread across George's face as he leant over to the basket and revealed and packet of Every Flavour Beans. He poured some into his hand and held them out to Ellie. "I dare you."

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes, but never one to back down from a dare, she picked a white-coloured one out of George's hand and popped it in her mouth. George quirked an eyebrow at her. "Coconut." She answered his look with a smile.

George went to put the rest of the back in the packet, but Ellie stopped him.

"Nuh-uh. You're not getting away with this one. Your turn," she winked at him.

George grinned. "Not to worry, I've got a special talent for this. I never get the disgusting ones," he said with a confident shrug, as he picked up a rosy pink one and popped it in his mouth, only to spit it out a second later with a disgusted look on his face. "Shampoo."

Ellie laughed out loud. "Teach you!"

"That was disgusting," George mumbled through slurps of his drink.

"Here," Ellie said, taking out the Nutella jar and a spoon. "This'll get rid of the taste," she grinned as she fed George a spoonful.

Once he had swallowed it, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What even is that?"

"Nutella. Why? Do you like it?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

Ellie grinned. "If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it."

"Surely that wouldn't be good for you?"

Ellie shrugged. "I've done lots of things that aren't good for me. Doesn't mean that I regret doing them."

"Okay then Miss Ellie," George smiled, settling back onto the cushions and tapping the spot beside him, indicating that Ellie should do the same. "What is the one thing you regret most then?"

Ellie got comfortable on the cushions and turned her head to face George. "What, are we playing a game of truths now or something?"

George shrugged. "Why not?"

"Okay," Ellie looked back up at the sky thoughtfully. "I regret not coming back to England with my mother and the rest of them when they were summoned back here by…him." Ellie turned her head to George. "I could have helped in the battle. My mother gave me the choice to go with them, but the idea of actually have to see the dark one in the flesh put me off."

"I'm glad you didn't come back," he said softly, taking hold of her hand.

Ellie nodded, looking away from George's intense gaze. "My turn to ask."

"It is indeed. Ask away."

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a moment, and then looked back over at George. "Have you ever been in love?"

George shook his head. "There was a time when I thought I was."

"With that Katie girl?"

George sighed. "Yes. But it couldn't have been."

"And whys that?"

George's eyes met hers. "Because I have even stronger feelings for someone else."

Ellie raised her eyebrows a bit at his implication, but simply sat up and started taking her hair out from the bun it had been in all day, letting it splay out around her shoulders. "Your turn," she laughed when she turned back around to see him watching her.

"Okay," he looked at her for a little while longer, obviously thinking hard. "How many boyfriends have you had?"

Ellie cheeks flushed crimson. "None." When she saw the shock on George's face, she continued. "I mean, I've had a few love interests, I guess, but nothing that ever really meant anything."

"Ah," he nodded, an unreadable smirk on his face. "Your turn now I guess."

Ellie smiled, and turned around to turn up the stereo, and clambered up to her feet, holding out her hand to George. "Will you dance with me?" she smiled.

A huge smile spread across George's face as he accepted Ellie's hand and led her into a clearing, still surrounded by tea lights. He lifted her hand and guided it to the back of his neck, where he let go of it and proceeded to rest both of his hands on the small of her back. Ellie let her remaining hand rest on George's shoulder, and they swayed back and forth in time to the music.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are Ellie?" George lifted one of his hands to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"George, you tell me that I'm beautiful all of the time."

George laughed. "Good. You deserve constant reminders."

Ellie smiled and shook her head into George's shoulder, breathing in the smell of liquorice and pumpkin pie that she had missed so much over the last week. "Your question."

"Okay. Hmm…if you could have three wishes, any three, what would they be?"

"Hmm," Ellie smiled. "I'd wish that my dad was still alive. Or if that wasn't a possibility, I'd ask that I could speak to him one last time," George pulled away a bit so that he could look at Ellie's face. "My second wish would probably be that I could have a pet phoenix." George laughed. "I've _always_ wanted one." She giggled. "And my last wish…hmm, it would probably be that I could read minds, so that I could know exactly what's going on up in here at the moment." She playfully tapped the side of George's head.

George grinned. "If you could read minds, I'd probably be highly embarrassed right now," he laughed, but before Ellie could question him on it, he added on, "Your turn."

Ellie nervously chewed on her lip, looking up at George's face. "Are you a…I mean, have you ever…" Ellie tried to find the right way to put it, but the wicked smile forming on George's lips wasn't helping.

"Am I a what? Have I ever _what_ , Ellie?"

"Are you honestly going to make me say it?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Why?"

"Because," George tightened his grip on Ellie's hips and brought her closer to him. "I don't want things to be awkward between us, Els. And besides, I want all cards laid out on the table," he brought a hand up to Ellie's chin and tilted her head to that she was staring into his eyes. "You don't have to be scared around me."

Ellie sighed. How could one person go from being so maddeningly arrogant one minute, to so perfectly sweet the next? "Fine. Are you a virgin?"

"No."

Ellie felt a painful catch in her chest. When she didn't reply for a minute, George pulled back so that he could look at her.

"Sorry," Ellie said, making her voice sound much more joyful than she felt.

George shook his head, not buying it. "Talk to me."

Ellie shrugged. "I just…I don't particularly like the thought of you being with someone else. Or other people. Whichever."

"There was only one."

"Do I get a prize if I guess who?"

George rolled his eyes. "Ellie, I can't change the past."

"I know you can't."

"Then why are you getting angry?"

Ellie laughed, pulling away from George, but he grabbed her hands as she did so. "George, I'm not _angry_. I'm _jealous._ I'm jealous of any damn girls who got to lay their hands on you first, or kiss you first, or…or have sex with you first."

"And why are you so jealous?" George asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The same reason you got so wound up over me _talking_ to Oliver Wood. The same reason that you got so _upset_ when I got into trouble in Knockturn Alley last week. And probably the reason you looked so _bloody_ relieved when I told you that I'd never had a boyfriend before!"

George didn't say anything. He simply pulled Ellie into him and quickly wrapped both of his strong arms around her waist to make sure that she didn't try to pull away. Not that she did. She wound her arms around his neck, and rested her head on his shoulder. They stood there for what could have been forever, gently swaying back and forth.

"Ellie?" George spoke after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Would you be mad if I told you that I was a little relived that you were jealous?" Ellie pulled back to look at his face, to find a small smile plastered on it. "Because that means that you want me all to yourself." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"George…"

"Oh _come on_ Ellie. At this point, there is no point in pretending that we don't have feelings for each other."

Ellie simply smiled innocently up at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Perhaps I should remind you then," George grinned, as he leaned in towards her. One of his hands lifted up and moved all of Ellie's hair to one side, leaving her throat and collarbone exposed. "If you don't have feelings for me," he breathed, his hot breath against her throat sending shivers down her spine, "then why do you blush when I'm close?" he brushed his forefinger over her cheek. "And why," he grinned as her brought his eyes back up to meet hers, "can I hear your heart pounding from here?"

Ellie blushed violently, and ducked her head, attempting to hide it. George's fingers found their way from Ellie's cheek to her chin, and gently lifted her face until she was looking directly into his eyes. The eye contact was so intense, and Ellie brought her bottom lip into her mouth and began chewing on it nervously. Her annoying habit caught George's attention, and as he stared down at her lips, the tip of his tongue appeared as he moistened his.

"My turn to ask the question," George said, bringing Ellie's attention back up to his eyes, where she saw a look that she had only ever seen once before. "Do you want me to kiss you?"

Ellie's stomach started to do summersaults, and if George could hear her heart beat before, well that must have been amplified by a thousand. She slowly nodded.

George tilted his head just a bit, slowly bringing his head close and closer to Ellie's, until finally, their lips met. It was so different from their first kiss. George delicately moved his lips against hers, the kiss warm and sweet, without the urgency of the previous. That first kiss ended and Ellie brought her fingers up to run them through George's shaggy ginger hair. He smiled against her lips, before claiming them in the next kiss, parting his lips slightly this time, and his tongue finding its way there a second later, gently mingling with Ellie's in slow and affectionate strokes. A few moments later they emerged from the kiss, and George rested his forehead against Ellie's.

"Now _that_ ," he smiled, "Should have been our first kiss."

Ellie giggled, and then sighed. "I should get back."

"I suppose you should. No doubt that my sister will be waiting up for you. And we don't want it to be too late, in case we wake mum and dad, sneaking back in."

"We?" Ellie raised her eyebrow. "You're staying at the Burrow?"

George grinned. "Is there a problem?"

"No! No, not at all. Your mums going to be so excited, that's all," she smiled, breaking away from George's embrace. "What are we going to do about that lot?" she nodded at the blanket set up.

George shook his head. "I'll deal with it in the morning. Too tired now." He took Ellie's hand and they walked back to the house.

When they reached the back door, George opened it almost silently, and then locked it behind them using non-verbal magic. George led the way up the stairs, avoiding the known creaky ones and stopped outside the girl's bedroom. As promised, the light was still on.

George turned around to face Ellie. "Try not to miss me too much," he grinned, but before she could respond, he bent down and placed a small kiss at the corner of her mouth. "Night Els," he whispered, before disappearing off up the stairs to the second floor.

Ellie stood there for a few seconds, trying to regain her composure. She slowly opened the door, hoping that Ginny would have fallen asleep, but no such luck. Her best friend was sitting cross-legged on her bed with a book laid out in front of her, looking expectantly up at her as she entered the bedroom. When Ellie had safely shut the door, Ginny raised her eyebrows at her.

" _Well_?!"


	13. Chapter 13: Party Time

Chapter Thirteen

Ellie was woken the next morning by loud whispers coming from the other side of her bedroom door. She furrowed her eyebrows, swung her legs over the other side of her bed and walked over to the door. She yanked open the door and raised her eyebrows at the two people standing there.

"Ellie," Ginny smiled. "You're awake."

"Did you two know that whispers are typically meant to be quiet?" Ellie asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

"Did we wake you by any chance Els?" George said with a smirk.

Ellie shook her head at him, thinning her lips. "I'm to brush my teeth," she said, storming out of the doorway and heading towards the bathroom, pushing past George's bicep as she did.

George looked after her, at a complete loss for what to say. When he turned back to his sister, she laughed at his bewildered expression.

"Don't worry. It's not you," Ginny grinned. "She's not really a morning person at the best of times. And I kind of kept her up half the night."

George raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"We were talking about you, of course. I wanted to know everything."

"You wanted to know everything about what your brother is like on a date, and what an amazing kisser he is?" George raised his eyebrows.

"Well, when she's telling me, I sort of pretend that she's not talking about you. And for the record, she said nothing about you being an amazing kisser," Ginny laughed.

"Ah, well she obviously wanted to keep that memory all to herself."

Ginny laughed in disbelief and opened her mouth as if she were about to reply, but stopped herself when the bathroom door opened back up.

"There's that arrogance again," Ellie rolled her eyes at George, poking him in the chest as she walked past.

George chuckled. "Don't pretend you don't love it. Nice pyjamas by the way."

Ellie gave him a twirl in her faded batman vest-top with matching shorts. "I know right? You're just jealous because yours aren't as cool."

"Is this seriously what you guys spend your time talking about?" Ginny laughed, looking between the two of them. "Well I'm going for a shower. Ellie, you might want to start getting ready. We need to be at Shell Cottage in forty minutes." Ellie rolled her eyes. "You were the one who offered us up for food duty!" She disappeared into the bathroom.

Ellie smiled back at George. "You heard the girl. I should be getting ready." She paused for a minute. "Are you going to come today?"

George grimaced. "I might come along later."

Ellie leant against the door frame. "Please come. It'll mean so much to Bill and Fleur." Seeing George shrug again, she sighed. "Will you come for me?"

George furrowed his brow, stepping forward and placing his hands on Ellie's waist. "No fair. You know I'd do anything for you." He nudged her nose with his.

"Thank you," she whispered. She leant up slightly and placed a kiss on George's awaiting lips, snaking her arms around his shoulders. It was only when the heard a cough from down the hall that the jumped apart.

"I'd like to get past," Ron sniggered.

Ellie blushed and stepped back to let him down the stairs. When he was gone, Ellie turned back to George. "Stop distracting me, you!" She winked, retreating into the room and shutting the door.

George stood there for a minute, grinning like an idiot. He then licked his lips and disappeared off down the stairs.

Inside the bedroom, Ellie pulled on her blue sleeveless maxi dress and pulled a thin brown belt around her waist. She pulled the front bit of her hair into a quiff and drew eyeliner on, making it flick at the sides, accompanying it with a wipe of mascara and red lipstick. Ginny came into the room just as Ellie was pulling on her suede wedges, looking absolutely beautiful in a bright purple halter-neck dress.

"What were you and George talking about then?" Ellie raised her eyebrow.

"Nothing. He came knocking on the door for you this morning, so I got up and told him that you were sleeping. Then we started talking about the party today, and that's when you woke up."

"Ah."

"So what's he to you now then?" Ginny asked, picking up Ellie's denim jacket. "Can I borrow this?"

Ellie nodded. "What do you mean?"

"Well…is he like your boyfriend, or what?"

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. We haven't spoken about it."

Ginny smiled. "Well, I'm just about done here. Are you?" Ellie nodded. "Good. We have time for breakfast."

When they got downstairs, Hermione was already sitting at the table waiting for them. Well, of course she was. This is _Hermione_ they were talking about.

Ellie took a seat next to George and started helping herself to cereal.

"Are you sure you don't want anything cooked girls?" Molly asked, already jumping up in case they said yes.

"Mum, thank you, but I think we're okay," Ginny smiled at her.

"Yeah, we need to be off in a minute anyway," Ellie shrugged. "Fleur will kill us if we're late to help set up."

"And that would be _such_ a tragedy," George grinned.

Ellie raised an eyebrow at him through a mouthful of cereal and slapped him on the back of his head, making Ron and Harry snort with laughter.

"I think we should be off," Hermione stood up and bent down to kiss Ron. "See you later."

"Yeah," Ginny stood up and followed suit. "Don't forget to suit up, Harry," she giggled.

Ellie stood up to follow her friends, but was stopped by a hand round her waist.

Smirking, she turned back around. "Yes George?"

"Didn't think you were going to leave without saying goodbye did you?"

Ellie laughed. "Aww is wittle Georgie-pie going to miss me?" she asked with a mock-pout, earning chuckles from the on-lookers.

George grinned and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "See you later Malfoy." He gave her waist a squeeze before letting her go and sitting back down in his chair.

The girls filed out the back door, and after a few moments there was a distinctive popping noise. George turned back round to face the table, only to find a lot of raised eyebrows in his direction.

"Last night go will then, did it George?" grinned Bill.

"Don't know what you're talking about," George said, suddenly becoming very interested in his eggs.

"Georgie-porgy's in luurve," Ron teased, poking in the arm.

"Say's the one who can't leave his girlfriend alone for five minutes," George said, shoving him off.

"Boys, _boys_ , come on now, leave your brother alone," Molly walked over and broke them apart. "You two need to go and make sure that your clothes are ready for later anyway."

The party was being held in the back garden of Shell Cottage, and the beautifulness of their surroundings left Ellie speechless.

"Zer you three are! I 'ave been waiting around for you to arrive!" Fleur exclaimed as soon as they appeared.

"Sorry Fleur," Ginny smiled. "It seemed George wouldn't let Ellie go without a kiss."

Fleur's eyes widened and she turned to Ellie. "You an' George are together?!" Ellie shook her head violently. "Ahh vell it vill not be long!" Fleur smiled.

Ellie rolled her eyes and smiled at Fleur. "This place is beautiful."

"Thank you!" Fleur shot Ellie one last brilliant smile and squeezed her hand. "I 'ave to go and zort of the lights. 'ave a look around!"

Ellie and the girls spent the day cooking in the kitchen, as Bill and Charlie set up the back garden Fleur cast enchanted lights to float into the night.

When the party started, Ginny dragged Ellie and Hermione over to where everybody was dancing, talking and laughing, and made sure that Ellie was introduced to _everybody_. They spent the evening socializing, and Ellie was actually having a lot of fun, until she heard a vaguely familiar voice behind her.

" _So_ sorry that I can't stay much longer Fleur."

Ellie spun around on the spot, to find herself face to face with Katie Bell. She ducked her head down and tried to walk in the opposite direction, but it was too late.

"Ellie, isn't it?" Ellie looked up to find Katie staring at her with an amused expression. "Is your impression of me really that bad?"

"Well, considering that the first time I met you, you were throwing yourself at George and taking _advantage_ of the state he was in, I'd have to say yes," Ellie replied coolly.

"I'm _sorry_ ," Katie let out a harsh laugh. "I didn't realise that you had a say in who George hangs around with."

"Yeah, well," Ellie grimaced and raised an eyebrow. "Now you do."

"Who the fucking hell do you think you are?!" Katie exclaimed in anger, taking a step towards Ellie. "George and I go _way_ back, all the way to first year. And _you_ …you're just some house guest that he's got a little crush on." Katie shrugged and smirked.

Ellie laughed. "Is that so?"

"That's what he told me."

Ellie stood there, stunned. "He did what?"

Before Katie could answer, Ginny wondered over.

"You okay Els?" Ginny asked, furrowing her eyebrows at the scene before her.

Ellie plastered a smile on her face. "Yeah. We were just, err, getting introduced." She smiled at Katie. "Nice to meet you, I guess."

"Likewise. See you later, Gin," Katie waved and walked off.

Once she was out of earshot, Ginny turned to Ellie. "You're such a bad liar. What did she say to you?"

"Nothing! Well, nothing important," Ellie rolled her eyes at Ginny's concerned expression. "Look, I'm not going to listen to her!"

"Okay. Good. Me and Hermione are going home now," she smiled at Ellie's pout. "Sorry! We promised the boys that they wouldn't have to stay long. And Harry's quite keen for some…alone time." She winked.

Ellie shook her head. "Okay. I'll be home later, when Bill has sobered up a bit," she giggled, gesturing over to a very red-faced Bill laughing at something with a friend. "Can you…can you tell George that I want to see him when he gets home?"

Ginny smiled sympathetically. "I'm not going to tell him to wait up just to get a bollocking from you."

Ellie shook her head. "I'm not mad. I just want to see him," she smiled.

Ginny grinned and nodded to something behind Ellie. "You should have more faith."

Ellie turned around to see a very nervous looking George enter the party, looking gorgeous in skinny jeans and a knitted jumper.

"I'll see you later, Els," Ginny said, going almost unnoticed by Ellie. All she could focus on was the red-head walking towards her.

"I was beginning to lose faith," she giggled when he finally made his way to her.

"I could never let you down." He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek.

Ellie smiled and took his hand. "You're a bit late though. People are already leaving."

"Actually…" George grinned, causing Ellie to furrow her brow. "Bill invited us to stay the night. If you want, that is."

Ellie quirked an eyebrow. "Did you happen to pick me up any clothes?"

George nodded. "Mum packed a bag for you. It's in the house."

"So what, you just assumed that I'd say yes?" Ellie smirked.

"You can go home if you want," George smiled cockily at her. "Or you can spend a gorgeous night in a beachside house with the most handsome Weasley."

"Hmm, yes, Bill _is_ pretty gorgeous," Ellie nodded in agreement.

George took a step forward and twirled a piece of Ellie's hair around his fingers. "Trying to make me jealous or something Malfoy?" he said softly with an amused smirk.

"I'm shocked that you would even think that of me Mr Weasley."

George grinned and leaned in to kiss Ellie on the forehead. "Want to go for a walk on the beach?"

"Shouldn't we help clean up?"

George shook his head. "If I know Bill, it'll be left until tomorrow. So…beach?"

Ellie smiled. "I'd love too. Just…I'm going to go and get changed out of this dress. And these heels."

They walked to the house together, and once inside, Ellie ran upstairs with her bag to get changed, with Fleur calling directions to her room after her. Ellie opened the bag and pulled the contents out onto the bed.

A walk with George on the beach. Ellie smiled to herself.


	14. Chapter 14: Sea Air

Chapter Fourteen

Ellie rifled through the bag, smiling at the mixture of her own and Ginny's clothes that Molly had pulled together, apparently not being able to spot her daughter's clothes from Ellie's. She laughed out loud as she came across one of Ginny's pairs of hot pants, and eventually pulled on an outfit of high-waisted shorts, a back and white jumper and her favourite pair of Docs. She took her hair out of the style it had been in all day and then headed down the stairs, raking her fingers through her hair.

"You know that I like your hair messy right?"

Ellie spun around to see a raised eyebrow and two sets of amused eyes looking at her.

"Who says it's for you?" she shot back. "I'm thinking about all the sexy boys on the beach," she winked.

George shook his head, smiling and stood up. "We shouldn't be long," he said to his brother. He walked over and picked up Ellie's hand. "Come on, you."

The beach stretched on for as far as the eye could see. Ellie couldn't help but smirk that there were, in fact, a group of boys in the distance playing volley-ball. Conveniently, George steered Ellie in the other direction, earning an eye-roll from Ellie, which he subtly chose to ignore.

"So how was your day?" George asked while entwining their fingers together as they walked along the beach.

"Err it was actually pretty interesting, actually," George raised an eyebrow at her. "I ran into your friend Katie."

George stopped in his tracks, furrowing his eyebrows as he studied her face. "What did she say to you?"

Ellie let out a nervous laugh and turned to face him. "Nothing really," she shrugged, but when George didn't let up, she sighed. "Look, George, it's not like I listened to her! Or like I give a shit what she said to me!"

"But you do," George replied calmly. "Or you wouldn't have brought it up."

Ellie rolled her eyes. " _Fine_. She just said that…that all you referred to me as was 'a little house guest you had a small crush on'," she grimaced as George's expression became clouded with anger. "George! I don't care. She's desperate. You were drunk. Whatever."

George stared at Ellie's expression for a moment longer until is saw something that apparently satisfied him. He turned back around and continued walking, as if nothing had happened. "So your day apart from that…?"

"Pretty crap. But don't tell Fleur that."

"Never," he grinned. "Aren't you going to ask me about my day?"

"Okay Georgie. How was your day?"

"Good. Me and Ron went to the shop and started clearing it out for new stock."

Ellie smiled and turned her head to look at him. "You're re-opening the shop?"

"Maybe. Yes. I don't know at the moment."

Ellie nodded. "Okay," she let go of George's hand and sat down on the spot.

He grinned and sat down next to her, draping an arm around her shoulders. "There's actually something I've been meaning to ask you about," he said looking straight ahead at the sea.

"Which is?"

"Why did you have move here? From France?"

Ellie turned to stare at George. "Did Bill tell you to ask me that?"

George snapped his head around to look at Ellie. "No. _No_. I swear."

"It's not that exciting."

"I don't care."

Ellie sighed. "Okay. But it's not that great…so, the Ministry found out that she had been using our house as a safe house for death eaters, which actually would normally be fine. Well, not fine, but one or two years at the most, considering that she never actually part of any hate crimes," Ellie swallowed. "But then they found out that a minor…me…well, that I was staying there. And that they had been, well, _aware_ of my presence there. So she got life."

"What do you mean, 'aware'?" George tightened his grip slightly on her waist and scooted closer to her.

Ellie shook her head, looking at the ground. "It's not important."

"You don't want to tell me," George stated, sounding slightly hurt.

"No, I do," Ellie said, looking up at George's face. "I'm just scared of what you'll think of me after. I like how we are now," she brought her legs up to her chest and turned so that she was leaning into George's chest, head resting on his shoulder.

"Is it that bad?" George asked against her hair. When he felt her nod, he sighed. "I want to know anyway."

"Okay. But if your think different of me after, I completely understand," When she got no other response but a kiss on the top of her head, she continued. "When the death eaters started coming to stay, mum kept me in a wing in a whole other different part of the house. She didn't want them to find out about me. I had everything there. A bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. So that I'd never have to leave," she took a big breath. "One day, mum came in and told me that she was going to America for three days, with my Uncle, on 'business'. So I was there, in the house, on my own with about three death eaters at the time, I think. Not that they knew I was there. Well, until one day. They found me. They had heard the shower, I think. Anyway, they took me down to the cellar and locked me up. I was in there for 36 hours with no food or water before someone came down. He said he was the nice one. That he'd let me out if I'd…if I'd just…" Ellie trailed off as silent tears fell down her face.

"If you'd what, Els?" George said in an unreadable voice.

"Don't make me say it."

"He raped you."

Ellie slowly nodded her head. She heard George sigh, and pulled away from his embrace, and sat with her back to him. "Judge me all you want George," Ellie said once she had calmed down slightly. "But I didn't have a choice. He would have done it anyway."

"I know," George said in a calm and slightly soothing voice. "Ellie I'm not judging you." When she didn't reply, he crawled over so that he was sitting behind her and wrapped both of his arms around her. "Please talk to me," he whispered into her ear.

Ellie shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I want to forget it."

"One more question?"

"What?"

"Was it your first time?"

Ellie breath got stuck in her throat, and she turned around on the spot to look at George. "Yep."

"I'm so sorry."

"No. _No_! George this is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!" she brought a hand to his cheek, and grazed her thumb over it. "I didn't want to see that look in your eyes. The look that _everyone else_ gives me when I tell them. It's the same look your sister gave me."

"I just hate the thought of some death eater running his _hands_ all over you."

Ellie slid the hand that was on his cheek round into his hair, and leant in, kissing him on the mouth. She had only meant it to be short and sweet, but George lingered, taking her bottom lip between his own, making Ellie let out a surprised moan. George grinned briefly against her lips before averting his attention to her lips again and wrapping his arms around Ellie's waist. Their tongues battled fiercely with one another's, and Ellie moved her left leg over so that she was straddling George's lap. This movement surprised George so much that he fell backwards and they tumbled onto the sand. Ellie burst out laughing and untangled herself from George.

"You alright there, Georgie?" Ellie laughed, looking down at him on the ground as she sat back up.

"Are you _laughing_ at me Malfoy?" George cocked an eyebrow and grabbed her arms, pulling her back down to him. "I think you might be," he murmured into her ear.

Ellie giggled as George started sucking on her earlobe. "Won't your brother be wondering where we are?"

"Erm, no," George nuzzled into the crook of Ellie's neck. "Somehow, I think that he's counting on us being out late."

"Whys that?" Ellie wrapped George's arms tighter around her waist, entwining his fingers with hers.

"Let's just say that Fleur has been having a _lot_ of pregnancy hormones lately."

Ellie smiled. "Okay. Good."

"Why good?"

"It means that we can talk."

"Oh not _talking_ ," George moaned, nibbling his way down Ellie's neck.

Ellie swatted him off and sat up, laughing. "What is _with_ you tonight?!" She turned around and sat cross-legged next to him, her right knee resting on his stomach.

George simply shrugged with a devil-like grin on his face, and reached up to twirl a strand of Ellie's hair around his fingers. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," Ellie frowned and started chewing her bottom lip. "George, where exactly…I mean, what are w…like, where exactly are we, I guess?"

"We're on the beach Els."

"That's not what I meant."

George shook his head and smiled fondly. "I know what you meant. And you know what, I really don't know."

"Georgie, I really like you," she said softly and started playing with the bottom button of George's shirt.

"I know," he relied in a slightly cocky voice. When Ellie looked up and raised her eyebrows, he grinned and added on. "I like you too. A lot. More than a lot. I mean-"

"George, I get it."

He chuckled. "Of course I like you Ellie. I mean, you saved me," when Ellie tried to interrupt, he sat up and brought their foreheads together, then put a finger over her mouth. "In fact, Miss Ellie Malfoy," he took a deep breath, "I think I could be falling in love with you."

Ellie froze for a moment. Then frowned. "You're what?" she whispered, her eyes wide in shock. She fumbled to break free of George's arms, and then stumbled to stand up. "You're falling in _love_ with me?!" she practically shrieked.

George stood up, looking extremely confused. "Excuse me Els, but do you mind explaining to me how this is a _bad_ thing?!"

"Because!" she shouted in frustration. "We've only been together, or whatever the _fuck_ we are, for less than three weeks! You can't fall _in love_ in three weeks! We…George, you barely know me! How…Why…This doesn't make any sense!"

"Ellie," George began, starting to move towards her, but Ellie took several larger steps back.

"No, no, you stay there. Or come in. But I need to be alone. Just, please don't follow me, okay?" she looked at George with pleading eyes, and then turned and ran back to the cottage.


	15. Chapter 15: Pillow Talk

Chapter Fifteen

When George made it back to the cottage, all he could hear was shouts from upstairs. He looked around, only to find Bill sitting at the table, staring at him.

"Fleur's upstairs trying to calm Ellie down. She came in in a right state."

George nodded, and took a seat opposite his brother. "I can imagine."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Bill quirked an eyebrow, but George just sighed and stared down at the table. "Look, George, I know I'm not Fred, but I'm still your brother. You can still talk to me."

George smiled. "Fred would be in stitches right now. Probably taking the mickey out of me in one way or another. Telling me to lighten up, that she'd come round 'cause no one can resist a Weasley twin right?"

"You two always seemed to have your way with the ladies, if I remember rightly."

"I told her I loved her Bill," George sighed and looked at his brother. "I told her that I loved her and she freaked out and ran away."

Bill grimaced. "What did she say?"

"That it was crazy. That I barely knew her, that we'd only been whatever we are for less than three weeks and how can someone fall in love in three weeks?" George frowned. "She's right."

Bill grinned at George. "I proposed to Fleur after just two months of knowing her."

"And mum hated you for it."

"What I'm trying to say is," Bill said, laughing, "That when you know, you know. If she's the one, why should you hold back?"

"If we're so-meant-to-be, then why doesn't she feel the same way?" George questioned Bill, almost sarcastically.

"Don't be so sure that she doesn't. Just talk to her. I'm sure that it will make sense then."

"She told me to leave her alone."

"Then wait for her to come to you," Bill finished off simply.

Ellie groaned inwardly and fell back onto the bed. Fleur had only just given up and left her alone, after what seemed like hours of trying to coax her into going to sort things out with George.

He _loved_ her?!

She sighed, stood up and stripped down to her underwear. She walked over to where she had thrown her bag when she had come into the room and picked up Ginny's Weird Sisters nightie and pulled it on over her head. She took a bite out of the sandwich that Fleur had brought up with her and then turned the light out and tumbled into bed.

Ellie lay there for hours, tossing and turning, playing back everything in her mind. He couldn't love her. No. The last time a boy had told her that…

Ellie stopped that train of thought. This was about George. George Fabien Weasley was in love with _her_. She needed to talk to him.

She swung her legs over the edge of her bed and grabbed her wand from her bedside table. She lit her wand and exited her room, wandering down the hallway until she came to the door right at the end on the right. She knocked gently.

"Mmmm?" came the sound from within.

"George?" she questioned softly, opening the door. "You awake?"

"Ellie," he said almost breathlessly, sitting up and switching on the lamp. "You can put your wand out."

"Right," Ellie put out her wand. "Can I come in?"

"Of course you can."

Ellie slipped inside the room and shut the door slowly behind her as to not wake Bill or Fleur. She turned around and smiled when she saw the state of George. His hair was tousled and sticking up in all different directions, his eyes were drooping from where he had obviously just woken up, and he was sitting upright it his bed with his top half naked and his bottom half under his duvet.

"What are you smiling at?" he looked nervously up at her.

"You're so cute," Ellie giggled.

"You think so?" he grinned. His smile faltered a little when he saw how nervous she looked, cowering in the doorway. "Ellie?" he softly questioned.

Ellie sighed and walked round to George side of the double bed. "I'm so sorry."

George smiled gently and shook his head at Ellie. "You don't need to be," he said as he wrapped his arms around Ellie's waist and pulled her down so that she was sitting sideways across his lap. "You're here now."

Ellie slid her arms around his shoulders and started playing with his hair. "I shouldn't have reacted that way," she looked up at him. "You just shocked me, that's all."

"It could have been worse. You could have hexed me, or slapped me, or pushed me into the sea. In a way, I got off easy."

Ellie giggled. "You're my favourite person in the whole world, do you know that?"

George smiled. "Good. Because you're mine too."

Ellie sighed in relief and leaned back onto the bed. George smiled down at her, shaking his head slightly at her nighty, and gulping a little when he noticed how short it was.

He brought his thumb to her lips and brushed them softly, watching her eyes close and her mouth curve into a small smile. He felt his heart rate increase unnervingly as he dropped his hand from her face, down her neck and across her shoulders, eventually resting it on the back of her hip. He had time to notice Ellie's shaky breathing before she leaned up and brought their lips together, placing both of her hands on his bare shoulders and dragging him down with her.

George did his best not to crush her as he pushed her further into the pillows with his weight. He could hear his heart doing what felt like a thousand beats per minute as he felt Ellie's nighty rising further up her legs with every movement. Ellie reached further down his back and began lightly scratching up and down, smiling slightly into the kiss as she felt George grip on her tighten. She let out a soft moan against his mouth, and George eased off slightly.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Ellie smiled up at him and leaned in to reconnect their lips. She shifted slightly under him, moving her legs out from underneath him so that he wasn't putting any weight on it. George slowly realised that he was now laying in between Ellie's legs, with very little fabric in between. He tiled his head slightly and felt Ellie do the same, allowing him to deepen the kiss to a near frantic intensity.

At some point not long after they both broke for air. George looked down at Ellie, with her tousled hair and swollen lips, looking back at him like he was the only person in the world to her. He kissed her, softly this time, and brought his hand back down to her hip. He hesitated slightly before letting it go where he wanted it to, slowly, waiting for her to stop him if she wanted to. Instead, she brought her hands to the back of his neck and began lightly tugging on his hair. He boldly moved his hand over to her breast, and became overwhelmed with the feeling of need he had for her. He felt Ellie wrap one of her legs around his, and continued to explore her body through the thin material. He brought one of his hands down to the hem of her nighty, grazing her thigh slightly as his did so.

He felt Ellie stiffen underneath him. He broke away, knowing what that meant.

"I'm sorry," he said breathlessly.

Ellie shook her head and sighed. "It's not you. It's…"

"You're not ready," he stated as he rolled off her, laying on his side next to her, their legs still entangled. "It's okay."

Ellie smiled and brought her hand up to his cheek, softly rubbing her thumb. "You're so wonderful."

"I just want to make you happy, Els," he spoke softly.

"You _do_ make me happy George."

George nodded and began playing with Ellie's hair. "I know."

"So I was thinking," Ellie started with a smile on her face, causing George to look up at her in confusion. "About something you mentioned earlier."

"Which was?"

"Your shop," she said softly. "I think you should move back there."

George quirked an eyebrow at her. "Trying to get rid of me so soon?" he said with a small smile tugging at his lips. "I kinda thought that you liked having me around."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "I _do_ , you know I do," she shook her head and smiled. "I just think that _maybe_ it's time to start getting your life back." George sighed. "And girls happen to find business owners very sexy, you know." She grinned and poked him on the nose.

George scrunched his nose in response. "I can't live in that flat on my own Els. Really, it's too..."

"Difficult?" Ellie frowned at him. "Come on Georgie, Ginny was telling me how amazing that shop was when you had it open."

"I wasn't doing it on my own then."

"And you won't be on your own now!" Ellie sighed. "Ron's already decided to help with the shop rather than go into Auror training, and you have me, and Gin, and…"

"Nobody should be putting their life on hold for me, least of all my little brother."

"Isn't that his choice?" Ellie looked up at George. "After everything he's been through, it makes sense for him to want a quiet life. I mean, he might even want the other flat. Then you'd _never_ get any peace," she giggled.

George shook his head affectionately. "You really think I should do this?" He raised his eyebrows at Ellie, and she nodded. "Okay. But you have to come and see the flats."

Ellie smiled at him. "We'll go tomorrow then, okay?" When George nodded, she leaned in a planted a kiss on the tip of his nose, before settling back down into the pillows and curling up in the space beside him. "Turn the light off, will you?"

"You're sleeping in here?" George said in a tone or surprise.

"Is there a problem?"

George grinned and leaned over to turn off the lamp. "Not at all," He said as he snuggled down next to Ellie, his chin resting on the top of her head. "Night princess."

Ellie wrapped her arms around George's chest and smiled.


	16. Chapter 16: Memory Lane

Chapter Sixteen

Ellie was aroused from her sleep the next morning but the sun streaming through the cracks in the curtains. She wriggled across the bed in search of the warm body she knew had been there earlier, only to be greeted with an empty space and a fistful of rumpled bed sheets.

"George?" she called out, furrowing her eyebrows.

"In here," came his voice from behind the closed door of the en-suite bathroom. "I'll be out in a minute."

Sure enough, a few moments later, George emerged from the bathroom freshly-showered with a towel wrapped around his middle. It was all Ellie could do not to stare at him, the droplets of water running down his chest, how cute his hair looked wet, or maybe the fact that his towel was hanging a bit too low on his hips…

"You alright there, Els?" Ellie snapped her gaze away from his body and looked up at George's face, to find him smirking. "You're blushing."

Ellie rolled her eyes and smiled up fondly at him.

"What are you smiling at?" he quirked an eyebrow at her.

Ellie stood up on the bed and walked over to where George was standing on his side, so that she was just above his height. "You need a haircut," she grinned, ruffling his wet hair. "Oh and," she placed both of her hand on his chest and swooped in to plant a gentle, lingering kiss onto his lips, "Good morning."

"It is indeed."

Ellie took a small step back, not moving her hands and let out a small sigh as she ran her eyes up and down George's top half. "You know, the Quidditch seems to have really paid off."

George grinned. "Could say the same about you."

"Yeah but you're a beater. You use your arms, and build up your muscles every time you play. It's different," when George raised his eyebrows at her, she continued. "Because I don't use my muscles. Beaters are much hotter than keepers."

George smiled. "Agree to disagree." He leant in for another kiss, wrapping one arm around Ellie's waist while the other one held up his towel. Ellie put her arms around his neck, and he deepened the kiss, moving his lips expertly in time with hers. When Ellie broke the contact and moved out of George's grasp, he opened his eyes and pouted at her.

Ellie grinned. "Don't even start. I need to shower if we're ever going to go and see these flats today. And we need to go and talk to Ron. I'm going to go and get my bag, okay?"

George shook his head. "No need. I got it for you while you were sleeping. It's in the bathroom."

Ellie jumped off the bed and walked towards the bathroom, kissing George's bicep as she passed. "Thank you. Oh, and when you're dressed, send an owl to the Burrow for Ronald will you? I'd rather not be chasing him all over the place."

George nodded at her and she walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. He smiled and rolled his eyes at the door. So _demanding_.

Ellie emerged from the bathroom half an hour later dressed in green denim hot-pants, an ivory blouse, black-and-white sandals and a delicate gold necklace with a mickey-mouse charm on it. She pulled and brush through her hair and then stuffed all her things into the over-night bag, before making the bed and pulling the curtains. She placed her and George's bags on the bed after Bill's promise to drop them off at the Burrow that night, and headed down the stairs.

She walked into the kitchen, to find Bill, Fleur and George sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Zere you aree!" Fleur smiled at her and stood up to fetch Ellie a plate. "Sit down! I managed to save you some bacon from zee's Weazleey's!"

"Thank you," Ellie smiled up at Fleur as she placed a plate of food in front of her.

"Sleep well, did you Ellie?" Bill said with a smirk.

Ellie raised her eyebrows at him. "Very well, actually."

"I'm sure."

Ellie focused on eating her breakfast while George told them about their plans for the day.

"Oh, by the way Els, we're meeting Ron and Hermione at three at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop in Hogsmeade."

Ellie frowned. "Why Hogsmeade?"

"Dunno," George shrugged. "It's Hermione's favourite place I think."

Ellie wrinkled her nose. "Really? I think Gin dragged me there when I was at Hogwarts. It was all pink and frilly and stuff. Right?"

Bill laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like it."

George smiled and picked up his and Ellie's plates to take them over to the sink. "Aw come on Els. We'll have fun."

"At a tea shop?"

"We can go look at furniture for the flat afterwards," he grinned as he sat back down in his chair. "Come _on_ , it's exciting."

Ellie laughed. "Okay, fine. But you owe me an ice cream."

"Deal," George smiled, stood up and kissed her on the top of her head. "You ready to go Malfoy?"

"Course," Ellie stood up. "Thank you for letting me stay," she flashed a smile at Bill and Fleur.

"You're always welcome Ellie," Bill said.

"We'll see you tonight guys," George called back as he grabbed Ellie's hand and lead her out the front door.

Once they were outside, George put his arm around Ellie's hips and she soon got the sensation of being twisted and pulled through a tube.

"Fucking hell, George!" Ellie exclaimed when they had come to a standstill. "Mind giving me some warning next time?!"

George shrugged and smiled down at her. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Well maybe it would prevent your girlfriend from feeling like she's about to throw up," Ellie groaned, bending over and resting her head against George's chest.

"Come on, Els," George chuckled as he ran his fingers soothingly through her hair.

Ellie lifted her head and shoved him playfully. "Shut up," she scowled. George smiled and put his hands in his pockets and began to rock back and forth on his feet. It was only then that Ellie actually took a look at her surroundings. They were standing in what seemed to be an old shop. There was a counter at one far end, and a winding wooden staircase in the middle. There were, what seemed like, hundreds of shelves from the ceiling to the floor, all stocked with thousands of different products. It seemed like the perfect joke shop...apart from the fact that everything looked so unloved.

All of the products were covered in dust, and colour which once seemed to have been bright were now dull and faded. Ellie sighed slightly and started wondering around. "So this is the shop, huh?"

George watched Ellie carefully as she wiped away some dust off a product and smiled. "Um, yeah. It used to be much more impressive."

Ellie turned her head to George and shook her head. "It's amazing." When George simply raised his eyebrows at her, she bent back down to look at the product she had just been studying. "What are these?" she asked turning to face George again and cocking an eyebrow, "Are these _love potions,_ Mr Weasley?"

"Not only are they love potions," George grinned and walked over to Ellie, "But they are the most powerful love potion you would have ever come across. Virtually undetectable."

"So how do I know that you haven't just brainwashed me with one of these potions then?" Ellie smirked.

"Because if I had, you'd be all over me right now," George smiled, and bent down so that his head was the same height as hers. "Then again..."

Ellie laughed and patted George on the cheek. "You're so persistent." She turned her back to him and made her way to the staircase. "Up here?"

George nodded. " _But,_ " he walked forward and took Ellie's hand, pulling her back down to the second step, "I've already decided I want the top floor flat."

Ellie smiled. "The penthouse, ey?"

George nodded, swallowing. "I just want a fresh start."

Ellie smiled and snaked her hands around his neck. "Fred's always going to be here. I mean, you guys built this place up together. As hard as it may be, you're still going to see him all over this place."

George nodded. "I know. I don't want him to go away."

Ellie leaned in so that their foreheads were touching. "He never will," she whispered.

"I love you so much," George whispered back, leaned up and kissed her hard on the lips before she felt the need to respond. He smiled briefly when she kissed him back with the same passion. When Ellie pulled away, George groaned.

"Race you upstairs," she grinned, and by the time George had opened his eyes, she was halfway up the stairs.

"Hey, no fair!" he shouted after her, grinning as he ran after her. Ellie simply turned around and poked her tongue out at him when she had got to the top of the first flight of stairs, and carried on up the second flight, until she reached George's new front door.

"You're such a cheat!" George scowled playfully when he reached the top of the stairs.

Ellie just shrugged and turned her attention back to the flat. "Can we change the colour of your front door?" she asked. "I'm not sure that brown really fits in around here."

George grinned and went to unlock the door. "You can change what you want. I'm counting on you spending a lot of time here."

Ellie raised her eyebrows at him, but George avoided her gaze. "Hopefully you won't regret that decision," she smirked as she pushed past his arm and made her way into the flat.

The flat was very large and spacious. The front door lead through into a living room diner, which then had an archway to the left which lead into the kitchen. On the right of the room there were double door which lead out onto a balcony and straight on there was a hallway.

"Does the hallway lead too...?"

"The bedrooms? Yes," George finished her sentence.

"This place is huge!" Ellie said, walking into the middle of the room. "How come you and Fred didn't have a flat each?"

George shrugged. "We'd never actually slept in a different room from each other. Even at Hogwarts. So, then, when we moved out, even sleeping in our own rooms seemed weird, let alone in different flats."

Ellie nodded. "Can I see the bedrooms?" she grinned.

George nodded, smiling at her as Ellie skipped off.

Ellie found the two bedrooms on either side of her, and right at the end of the hallway there was a bathroom, which had a shower, a bath, and a toilet and sink already installed. The bedroom on the right was very big, with two walk-in wardrobes and three steps on the left side leading up to a window seat. The bedroom on the left was the same side, apart from the fact that it only had one wardrobe, and it didn't have a window seat.

"I've figured out which bedroom is yours," Ellie called out to George from the bigger bedroom.

"It's perfect," George walked up behind Ellie and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I have two wardrobes."

"Yeah, and you have like nine pieces of actual decent clothing."

"Hey, don't hate on the Weasley knits."

"They _were_ the decent bits of clothing," Ellie grinned and broke free of George's grasp, but kept hold of his hand. "I can't wait until I have one."

"Hmm, I can't quite imagine you sporting burgundy," George laughed, fiddling with the hem of Ellie's blouse.

Ellie cocked an eyebrow. "What, I'm not good enough for the mighty Gryffindor colours?"

"Well, the second Gryffindor colour is gold," George smiled and took a step forward. "And that, I think you would defiantly suit."

"Nice escape," Ellie grinned and planted a chaste kiss on his lips, before turning around and walking into the centre of the room, dragging George with her. "It's wonderful in here."

George smiled. "Yeah?"

Ellie nodded. "You could back the bed under this big window," she said, gesturing, "And a bookshelf over by the window seat."

"I own like three books, Els," he chuckled.

Ellie furrowed her brow. "I can't believe I'm with someone who doesn't read." She smiled wickedly.

George chuckled. "I'll work on it." He looked down at her. "So, err, you really like it?"

Ellie turned around to face George, her back leaning against one of the wardrobes. "Yeah. Why?"

George began to walk towards Ellie. "I just thought that maybe, the holidays you get off school..." George smiled a little when he reached her, and leaned in to place his hand either side of Ellie's face, reminding her very much of their first date. "Well, you'd like to spend them here. With me."

Ellie wrapped her arms around George's waist and pulled him closer, so that there was nothing but clothes separating them. "Have I ever told you that you are _the_ most gorgeous boy on earth?" Ellie smiled.

"No."

Ellie sighed slightly. "I don't know why, cause you are. And yes." She smiled at him. "It's like your own little safe haven up here."

"Or…ours?" George said with his cocky grin sliding back onto his face.

Ellie rolled her eyes at him and giggled slightly. "If you want."

"Good," George smiled and pushed himself off the wall. "Well, we've got a bit of time before we need to meet the lovebirds. What do you want to do?"

Ellie cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "I've got some ideas."


End file.
